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Obama Left Largely Helpless As Judicial Vacancies Reach Crisis

09/07/2010 7:07 pm 0 comments

Source: Sam Stein / The Huffington Post

The Obama administration is aware of the growing alarm over its inability to fill long-standing judicial vacancies. White House officials frequently voice displeasure with the pace, offer heated indictments of the GOP’s stalling tactics, and occasionally threaten to circumvent the Congressional process. But for all the rhetoric, threats and critiques, even sympathetic observers acknowledge that the president is largely powerless (if not helpless) on the matter.

That’s because both he and allies in Congress simply lack the tools to force the Republican Party’s hand.

This past Friday, the Associated Press published a rather shocking report about just how poor Obama’s record on judicial vacancies is. “Fewer than half of Obama’s nominees have been confirmed,” the news wire wrote, “102 out of 854 judgeships are vacant,” and “forty-seven of those vacancies have been labeled emergencies by the judiciary because of heavy caseloads.”

When pressed about the article’s findings during Tuesday’s daily briefing, however, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs offered only a well-trodden denunciation of the GOP’s tactics.

To read this article in its entirety visit The Huffington Post.

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