	Introduction

The process by which lower federal court judges are nominated by the President and considered by the Senate has, in recent decades, been of continuing interest to Senators. During recent Senate debates 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 analysis of President Barack Obama's nominees, during his first term, 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 of President Obama's judicial nominees, during his first term, in advancing through the Senate confirmation process with the success of the judicial nominees during the first terms of the four most recent preceding Presidents (Ronald Reagan, George H.W. President Obama, during his first term, nominated 42 persons to circuit court judgeships. Of the 42, 30 (71.4%) were confirmed by the Senate, and 5 (11.9%) failed to be confirmed after their nominations either were withdrawn by the President or returned to the President and not resubmitted to the Senate. Of the 173, 143 (82.7%) were confirmed by the Senate, and 6 (3.5%) failed to be confirmed after their nominations either were withdrawn by the President or returned to the President and not resubmitted to the Senate. In contrast, President Obama had the second-lowest percentage of circuit court nominees confirmed (71.4%) and is tied with President Clinton for having the lowest number of circuit nominees confirmed, 30. President Obama, in contrast, had the second-lowest number of district court nominees confirmed (143) and the second-lowest percentage of district nominees confirmed (82.7%). Circuit and District Court Vacancy Rates at Beginning and End of First Term

The vacancy rate for circuit and district court judgeships (i.e., the percentage of authorized judgeships that are vacant) varies over the course of a presidency and is affected by the pace at which a President selects nominees for vacancies as well as the speed by which the Senate considers the President's nominees. Table 3 compares, for President Obama and his four most recent predecessors: (1) the U.S. circuit and district court vacancy rates at the beginning of each President's first term; (2) the circuit and district court vacancy rates at the end of his first term; and (3) the change in circuit and district court vacancy rates from the beginning to the end of each President's first term. During President Obama's first term, by contrast, the district court vacancy rate increased from the beginning to the end of his first term, rising from 6.7% to 9.5%. The district court vacancy rates also increased during the first terms of Presidents Reagan (from 5.7% to 13.3%) and G.H.W. Length of Time from Nomination to Confirmation

Figure 2 tracks by President, from Reagan to Obama, the average and median number of days from nomination to confirmation for all circuit and district court nominees confirmed during a President's first term. Bush (103.7 days), and Reagan (45.5 days). While President G.W. The circuit court nominees who were confirmed during President G.W. President G.W. The median waiting times from nomination to confirmation for district court nominees ranged from a high of 215.0 days during President Obama's first term to a low of 28.0 days during President Reagan's first term. President Obama is the only President during this period for whom, during his first term, U.S. circuit and district court nominees waited, both in terms of average and median number of days, more than half of a calendar year (i.e., more than 182 days) to be confirmed after being nominated. Bush, Clinton, and G.W. The mean number of days from first committee report to confirmation for nominees who were confirmed during a President's first term increased from 7.8 days during the G.H.W. During the first term of the Obama presidency, the average number of days increased further, to 98.5 days, as 61 (42.7%) of President Obama's 143 confirmed district court nominees waited at least 100 days from first committee report to confirmation.
The process by which lower federal court judges are nominated by the President and considered by the Senate is of continuing interest to Congress. Recent Senate debates in 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 number and percentage of vacant judgeships in the federal judiciary and the effect of delayed judicial appointments on judicial vacancy levels. This report addresses these issues, and others, by providing a statistical analysis of nominations to U.S. circuit and district court judgeships during the first terms of President Obama and his four most recent predecessors. Some of the report's findings include the following:
During his first term, President Obama nominated 42 persons to U.S. circuit court judgeships. Of the 42, 30 (71.4%) were confirmed, 5 (11.9%) had their nominations either withdrawn by the President or returned to the President and not resubmitted to the Senate, and 7 (16.7%) had their nominations returned to the President at the end of the 112th Congress and subsequently were renominated during the 113th Congress. During the first terms of the five most recent Presidents (Reagan to Obama), the 30 confirmed Obama circuit court nominees were tied with 30 Clinton nominees as the fewest number of circuit nominees confirmed. The percentage of circuit nominees confirmed during President Obama's first term, 71.4%, was the second-lowest, while the percentage confirmed during G.W. Bush's first term, 67.3%, was the lowest. Of the 173 persons nominated by President Obama to U.S. district court judgeships during his first term, 143 (82.7%) were confirmed, 6 (3.5%) had their nominations withdrawn or returned and not resubmitted, and 24 (13.9%) had their nominations returned to the President and were renominated during the 113th Congress. President Obama's first term, compared with the first terms of Presidents Reagan to G.W. Bush, had the second-fewest number of district court nominees confirmed (143 compared with 130 for President Reagan) and the second-lowest percentage of district court nominees confirmed (82.7% compared with 76.9% for President G.H.W. Bush). As it did during the first terms of Presidents Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, and Clinton, the circuit court vacancy rate during President Obama's first term increased (from 7.3% at the beginning to 9.5% at the end). Over the five most recent presidencies, G.W. Bush's first term was the only one during which the circuit court vacancy rate decreased (from 14.5% at the beginning to 8.4% at the end). As it did during the first terms of Presidents Reagan and G.H.W. Bush, the district court vacancy rate also increased from the beginning to the end of President Obama's first term (rising from 6.6% to 9.5%). President Obama is the only President during this period for whom the district court vacancy rate increased unaccompanied by the creation of new district court judgeships. The average number of days elapsed from nomination to confirmation for circuit court nominees confirmed during a President's first term ranged from 45.5 days during President Reagan's first term to 277 days during President G.W. Bush's. For district court nominees, the average time between nomination to confirmation ranged from 34.7 days (Reagan) to 221.8 days (Obama). The median number of days from nomination to confirmation for circuit court nominees confirmed during a President's first term ranged from 28 days (Reagan) to 225.5 days (Obama). For district court nominees, the median time elapsed ranged from a low, again, of 28 days (Reagan) to 215 days (Obama). President Obama is the only one of the five most recent Presidents for whom, during his first term, both the average and median waiting time from nomination to confirmation for circuit and district court nominees was greater than half a calendar year (i.e., more than 182 days).