Bill Clinton Judicial Appointment Controversies - Failed District Court Nominees

Failed District Court Nominees

During his presidency, Clinton nominated 45 people for 42 different federal district judgeships to federal district courts who never were confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Like the appellate court nominations mentioned above, many of these nominees were blocked by Republicans either in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was controlled by Republicans for six of the eight years of Clinton’s presidency, or on the Senate floor, where one nominee, Ronnie L. White, was defeated by senators.

Of the 42 federal district judgeship vacancies in question, 17 eventually were filled with different Clinton nominees, 24 were filled by nominees of President George W. Bush and one never ended up becoming vacant because the district judge holding it never received confirmation to be elevated to an appellate court. Of Clinton's 45 failed district court nominees, four, Legrome D. Davis, David S. Cercone, Dolly M. Gee and Sue E. Myerscough, subsequently were nominated by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to federal district judgeships and then confirmed by the Senate.

The failed Clinton district court nominees:

• United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
  • Anabelle Rodriguez (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Jay A. Garcia-Gregory)

• United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
  • Clarence J. Sundram (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee David N. Hurd)

• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • Frederica Massiah-Jackson, followed by Robert A. Freedberg (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Petrese B. Tucker)
  • Legrome D. Davis (judgeship later filled by Davis himself, when he was renominated by George W. Bush in 2002 and then confirmed by the Senate)
  • S. David Fineman (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Cynthia M. Rufe)
  • Stephen B. Lieberman (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Timothy J. Savage)

• United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
  • Patrick J. Toole (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee A. Richard Caputo)

• United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
  • John H. Bingler, Jr., followed by Lynette Norton (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Arthur J. Schwab)
  • David S. Cercone (judgeship was to become vacant when Judge Robert J. Cindrich was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit but Cindrich never was confirmed to that post before Clinton's presidency ended; Cercone later was nominated to a different seat in the Western District by Bush and then confirmed by the Senate)
  • Harry P. Litman (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Joy Flowers Conti)

• United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
  • J. Rich Leonard (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee James C. Dever III)

• United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
  • Cheryl B. Wattley (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Sam A. Lindsay)
  • Michael D. Schattman (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Barbara M. Lynn)

• United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
  • Ricardo Morado (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Andrew S. Hanen)

• United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
  • Steven D. Bell (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee John R. Adams)

• United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois
  • Sue E. Myerscough (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Michael P. McCuskey) (Myerscough later renominated by President Obama to a different seat on the same court and confirmed in 2011)

• United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • Jeffrey D. Colman (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Ronald A. Guzman)

• United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
  • Wenona Y. Whitfield (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee David R. Herndon)

• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
  • Ronnie L. White (Nomination rejected by the Senate) (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Henry Edward Autrey)

• United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
  • Leland M. Shurin (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Gary A. Fenner)

• United States District Court for the District of Nebraska
  • Steven E. Achelpohl (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Laurie Smith Camp)

• United States District Court for the Central District of California
  • R. Samuel Paz (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee George H. King)
  • Dolly M. Gee (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee John F. Walter; Gee later was nominated and confirmed to a different seat on the Central District by Obama)
  • Fredric D. Woocher (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Percy Anderson)

• United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
  • Marian M. Johnston (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Morrison C. England Jr.)

• United States District Court for the Southern District of California
  • Judith D. McConnell (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Barry Ted Moskowitz
  • Lynne R. Lasry (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Thomas J. Whelan)

• United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
  • John S. W. Lim (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee John Michael Seabright)

• United States District Court for the District of Idaho
  • John R. Tait (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Lynn Winmill)

• United States District Court for the District of Montana
  • Richard W. Anderson (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Sam E. Haddon)

• United States District Court for the District of Nevada
  • Linda B. Riegle (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Larry R. Hicks)

• United States District Court for the District of Colorado
  • Patricia A. Coan (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Robert E. Blackburn)

• United States District Court for the District of Kansas
  • K. Gary Sebelius (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Julie A. Robinson)

• United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
  • Frank H. McCarthy (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Claire Eagan)

• United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
  • Valerie K. Couch (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Stephen P. Friot)
  • Melvin C. Hall (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Joe L. Heaton)

• United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
  • John D. Snodgrass (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Charles Lynwood Smith, Jr.
  • Kenneth O. Simon (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Karon O. Bowdre)

• United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
  • Theodore Klein, followed by Bruce W. Greer (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Donald M. Middlebrooks)

• United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
  • Gail S. Tusan (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Beverly B. Martin)

• United States District Court for the District of Columbia
  • James W. Klein (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee John D. Bates)
  • Rhonda C. Fields (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Reggie Walton)