Washington ( CNN ) -- In a move likely to reignite the political battle over judges , President Barack Obama on Thursday renominated 33 people to the federal courts , including a New York lawyer twice blocked by Republicans worried she would be an `` activist '' on the bench . Caitlin Halligan was one of two nominees named again by Obama to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia , seen by many as a professional steppingstone to the Supreme Court . Halligan is currently general counsel for the Manhattan District Attorney 's Office in New York . She would fill the seat vacated by John Roberts , who joined the Supreme Court as chief justice in 2005 . In his announcement , Obama said his nominees should have been given up-or-down Senate votes before the 112th Congress adjourned . `` Several have been awaiting a vote for more than six months , even though they all enjoy bipartisan support . I continue to be grateful for their willingness to serve and remain confident that they will apply the law with the utmost impartiality and integrity , '' he said . `` I urge the Senate to consider and confirm these nominees without delay , so all Americans can have equal and timely access to justice . '' By law , the president must resubmit nominations that did not receive floor action in the previous session of Congress . Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy , D-Vermont , last week urged Republicans not to stop Obama 's pending nominations . `` There are more judicial vacancies now - 75 - than when President Obama was sworn into office four years ago , '' said Leahy . `` The nominations of too many qualified judicial nominees have needlessly languished on the Senate calendar . '' Chief Justice laments 'fiscal cliff ' effects on federal courts . In a rare move , Senate Republicans voted in December 2011 to block Halligan the first time she was tapped for the court , complaining the 46-year-old Ohio native was too liberal and would be an activist on the bench . Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said at the time that Halligan met the `` extraordinary circumstances '' standard for a filibuster under a 2005 Senate agreement that allowed filibusters of judicial nominees only in extreme cases . McConnell complained about Halligan 's legal positions on gun rights , detainee rights , and immigration and said she would bring an activist agenda to the court . Democrats had defended Halligan as a `` superbly qualified nominee , '' in the words of Leahy . Sen. Chuck Schumer , D-New York , called her a moderate and said Republicans have distorted her record . Halligan 's 2012 renomination languished without action , typical of an election year , when confirmations for a variety of political and practical reasons are given a lower legislative priority . Also renominated for the D.C . Circuit is Sri Srinivasan , the principal deputy solicitor general at the Justice Department , who has argued more than 20 cases before the Supreme Court . He would be the appeals court 's first Asian-American , if confirmed . Republicans had been criticized for delaying floor votes on many nominees in the president 's first term in office . But the White House , too , has come under fire for not moving quickly to fill growing bench vacancies . Some moderates from both parties have long lamented threats of delays and filibuster attempts of most presidential appointments . They say ongoing vacancies have created a crisis in many federal courts , with bulging dockets being handled by too few judges .
Nominees include 33 whose selection was blocked twice already in Senate . White House chair urges Judiciary Committee to stop holding up nominations . Democrats blamed for blocking nominees , but Judiciary Committee said too slow . Moderates say unfilled vacancies create crisis in courts staffed by too few judges .