Date: 1988-03-31
Speaker: BERNARD F. CONWAY (democrat)
Chamber: S

President. New Jersey State Bar Association. Trenton. NJ. DEAR MR. CONWAY: Thank you for the letter which you. along with your fellow bar presidents from four other midAtlantic states. recently sent me concerning federal district court vacancies in your region of the country. I agree that there are an inordinate number of federal judicial vacancies in the midAtlantic states. Your letter vividly describes the dangers this situation poses for the efficient administration of Justice in your region. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee since 1979. I have participated in the confirmation proceedings for hundreds of federal judges. My involvement in this process deepened last year. when I agreed to serve as chairman of an informal task force of Judiciary Committee members on judicial nominations. My perspective on the causes of what you describe as a "state of emergency facing the Federal Judiciary" in the midAtlantic states may be helpful to you. If you have not already done so. I urge you to direct your appeal for action to the President and the Attorney General as well as to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The record shows that the principal responsibility for undue delay in filing federal trial court vacancies lies in the Executive Branch. not the Senate. The relevant statistics have changed. but only slightly. since you wrote your letter. I am aware of 13 current vacancies in district court judgeships in the five states involved. For eight of these 13 vacanciesfour in Pennsylvania. three in New York. and one in Marylandthe President has not yet submitted a nomination to the Senate. Some of these eight Judgeships have been vacant for a long time. in fact. two of them have been vacant since 1985. The record also shows that when the President does submit nominations for District Court vacancies in the midAtlantic states. the Senate Judiciary Committee acts promptly on them. Since the establishment of the judicial nominations task force early last year. the Committee has reported the nominations of six district judges from New York. four from Pennsylvania. two from Maryland. In each case. the full Senate followed the recommendation of the Judiciary Committee and confirnled the nomination. More new Judges have been approved this Congress from New York and Pennsylvania than from any other state in the nation. These thirteen nominations were to fill vacancies which had existed. on the average. nearly fifteen months prior to the submission of a nomination by the President. The average time between nomination and approval by the Committee was less than four months. In other words. about fourfifths of the period during which these thirteen judgeships remained vacant is attributable to the time the Executive Branch consumed in submitting a nomination. less than onefif th of the average vacancy period is attributable to the process of investigation. hearlng. and consideration by the Judiciary Committee. These numbers do not tell the whole story. One of the principal goals of the Judiciary Committee In this Congress has been to reform the process by which Judicial nominations are considered. All too often in the past. the Judiciary Committee had treated these appointments as routine matters to be rushed through the Committee within days after the President announced his choice. Those days are gone. I hope forever. Lifetime appointments to the federal courts are too Important for "rubberstamp" treatment. The Senates constitutional role to advise and consent to these crucial appointments requires that each nomination be thoroughly investigated and carefully reviewed before the Senate acts. I believe the Judiciary Committee has made a good start in the 100th Congress toward improving the Senates performance in this field. As I noted above. the President has submitted nominations for only five of the thirteen District Court vacancies that now exist in the midAtlantic states. One of these five nominations was received by the Judiciary Committee in late November. Three more were submitted in late December. Just before the First Session of the 100th Congress adjourned. The fifth pending nominalion was received just last week. I anticipate that hearings will be held on at least two of these five nominations before the end of this month. More importantly. I will make every effort to ensure that each of these nominationslike every Judicial nominationreceives prompt. fair. and thorough consideration by the Committee. I welcome your assistance toward that end. and solicit your comments on any pending Judicial nomination. and your suggestions for further improvements in the way federal judges are selected. Thank you for taking the time to write to me about this important topic. Sincerely.