Bill Clinton Judicial Appointment Controversies
During President Bill Clinton's first and second terms of office, he nominated 24 people for 20 different federal appellate judgeships but the nominees were not processed by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. Three of the nominees who were not processed (Christine Arguello, Andre M. Davis and S. Elizabeth Gibson) were nominated after July 1, 2000, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. The Democrats claim that Senate Republicans of the 106th Congress on purpose tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Republican president to fill them. Of the 20 seats in question, four were eventually filled with different Clinton nominees, fourteen were later filled with Republican nominees by President George W. Bush and two were left open during Bush's presidency. Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the United States Senate during the 110th Congress, and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee under Reid, repeatedly mentioned the controversy over President Clinton's court of appeals nominees during the following controversy involving the confirmation of any more Republican court of appeals nominees during the last two years of Bush's second term. Senate Republicans of the 110th Congress claimed that Democrats were refusing to confirm certain longstanding Bush nominees in order to allow a future Democratic president in 2009 to fill those judgeships.
During his presidency, Clinton also nominated 45 people for 42 different federal district judgeships who were never confirmed by the United States Senate.
Read more about Bill Clinton Judicial Appointment Controversies: List of Failed Appellate Nominees, Others Who Were Nominated or Considered For Nomination To Federal Appellate Courts, Failed District Court Nominees
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