The NY Times takes everyone to task (Obama, the Democrats, the Republicans) for not doing more to fill the glaring number of vacant spots on the federal bench, something that Amicus touched on earlier this week.
The Times notes that due to (1) a paucity judicial nominations from Obama (2) impediments set up by the Republicans and (3) a lack of willingness on the part of Democrats to play hardball, the American public is left with “a judiciary where more than one of every nine positions is unfilled, a rate that is twice what it was when President Obama took office. This puts a strain on the remaining judges, prolongs cases and arguably violates the rights of defendants to a speedy trial.”
The editorial concludes that “the vacancy crisis on the federal bench is not a partisan issue. Without enough judges, cases are delayed, lives are disrupted and rights are violated. There’s no question that Republicans are at fault — but until President Obama and the Senate Democrats take aggressive steps to counter such obstructionism, they share in the blame.” Let’s hope enough folks in Washington are reading and listening.
Read the full post HERE.
