During Senate debates in the 112 th Congress over judicial nominations, differing perspectives have been expressed about the relative degree of success of a President's nominees in gaining Senate confirmation, compared with nominees of other recent Presidents. This report seeks to inform the current debate in three ways: first, by providing a statistical overview of President Obama's nominees thus far to U.S. circuit court of appeals and U.S. district court judgeships, and of any actions taken on their nominations by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate; second, by using various statistical measures to compare the success to date of President Barack Obama's judicial nominees in advancing through the Senate confirmation process with the success of the judicial nominees of the four most recent preceding Presidents (Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush); and third, by identifying various factors which might help explain differences or variations found in judicial appointment statistics across the five presidencies. As mentioned above, this report focuses on nominations made by President Obama and other recent Presidents to the U.S. circuit courts of appeals and the U.S. district courts. Thus far, President Obama has nominated 41 persons to circuit court judgeships. As for U.S. district courts, Figure 1 shows that President Obama has had the greatest number of judges appointed to district courts located within the Ninth Circuit (22 confirmed district nominees), the Second Circuit (13), and the Fourth Circuit (13). The two circuits with the fewest confirmed Obama district court nominees are the First Circuit (3) and the Sixth Circuit (4). As Figure 3 indicates, 17 more circuit and district court judgeships are vacant than when President Obama took office (a total of 72 current vacancies, as of May 31, 2012, compared with 55 on January 20, 2009). For district court nominees, President Clinton had the greatest number confirmed during the first term of a presidency for this period (i.e., 169). Inherited Vacancies and Subsequent Vacancies at Selected Dates

 Table 3 and Table 4 compare, for President Obama and his two most recent predecessors, (1) the number of U.S. circuit and district court vacancies that each inherited at the beginning of his presidency; (2) the number of circuit and district court vacancies as of February 1 of each President's second, third, and fourth years in office; and (3) the percentage of circuit and district court vacancies without nominees on February 1 of each of those years. Of the three Presidents, however, he is the only one who began his fourth year in office with more vacancies than existed when he took office (as is also the case with district court vacancies under President Obama). Bush but subsequently declined during the Obama presidency. The average waiting time, thus far, for President Obama's district court nominees from first nomination to first hearing, 83.2 days, is now nearly the same as the average waiting time experienced by district court nominees during the G.H.W. During the Obama presidency, the average number of days, thus far, has increased further to 105.1 days as 42 (35.9%) of President Obama's 117 confirmed district court nominees waited at least 100 days from first committee report to confirmation. Over the course of a presidency, opportunities for a President to make circuit and district court appointments continue to be affected by the rate at which judges depart office (by taking senior status, retiring, resigning, or dying). The level of consultation between a President and a nominee's home state Senators also can influence the President's pace in selecting nominees for judicial vacancies. According to one account, for example, judicial selection may not have been a priority for the Obama Administration during the 111 th Congress. Various studies, for example, have concluded that how long lower federal court nominees wait in the Senate confirmation process, from first nomination to final action, is affected by such factors as the extent of ideological differences between the President and the opposite party in the Senate, or of interest group opposition to certain nominees. Finally, another factor that might affect the processing of judicial nominations by the Senate (and, thus, judicial confirmation statistics) is the blue slip policy of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as set by its chair.
Recent Senate debates in the 112th Congress over judicial nominations have focused on issues such as the relative degree of success of President Barack Obama's nominees in gaining Senate confirmation (compared with other recent Presidents) as well as the effect of delayed judicial appointments on judicial vacancy levels. The following report addresses these issues, and others, by providing a statistical overview of President Obama's nominees to U.S. circuit court of appeals and U.S. district court judgeships, current through May 31, 2012. Findings include the following:
President Obama thus far in his presidency has nominated 41 persons to U.S. circuit court judgeships, 29 of whom have been confirmed. Of the 150 persons nominated thus far by President Obama to U.S. district court judgeships, 117 have been confirmed. The greatest number of President Obama's circuit court nominees have been confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (6) and the Second Circuit (5). The greatest number of President Obama's district court nominees have been confirmed to judgeships located within the Ninth Circuit (22) and the fewest to district court judgeships within the First Circuit (3). District court vacancies have grown in number over the course of the Obama presidency, from 42 judgeships vacant when President Obama took office to 59 at present. There currently are 13 circuit court vacancies (the same number as when President Obama took office). During the Obama presidency thus far, fewer circuit court nominees have been confirmed by the Senate than were confirmed during the first terms of any of the four preceding Presidents (Reagan through G.W. Bush). Likewise, fewer Obama district court nominees have been confirmed by the Senate than were confirmed during the first terms of the four preceding Presidents. President Obama is the only one of the three most recent Presidents to have begun his fourth year in office with more circuit and district court judgeships vacant than when he took office. During the Obama presidency, the average waiting time from nomination to committee hearing has been, thus far, 69.6 days for circuit court nominees and 83.2 days for district court nominees. During the Obama presidency, the average waiting time from Senate Judiciary Committee report to Senate confirmation has been 139.7 days for circuit court nominees and 105.1 days for district court nominees.
Various factors might help explain differences or variation found in judicial appointment statistics across recent presidencies.
A President's opportunities to make circuit and district court appointments will be affected by the number of judicial vacancies existing at the time he takes office, as well as by how many judges depart office, and how many new judgeships are statutorily created, during his presidency. The time taken by a President to select nominees for judicial vacancies may be affected by whether the selection of lower court nominees must compete with filling a Supreme Court vacancy, whether the selection process itself is a priority for a President, the level of consultation between a President and a nominee's home state Senators, and the time taken by home state Senators to make judicial candidate recommendations. Institutional and political factors which may influence the processing of judicial nominations by the Senate include ideological differences between the President and the opposition party in the Senate, the extent of interest group opposition to certain nominees, the presence or absence of "divided government," the point in a congressional session when nominations arrive in the Senate, whether nominees have the support of both of their home state Senators, and whether the blue slip policy of the Senate Judiciary Committee requires the support of both home state Senators before a nominee can receive a hearing or committee vote.