Meet the obstruction record breakers.
In announcing his three nominations to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, President Obama said that the level of obstruction of his nominees has been unprecedented. Republicans, of course, disagree and the traditional media generally leaves it at that—the president's assertion, the opposition's denial. But Greg Sargent
does some homework and finds out that, yes, more of Obama's nominees have been obstructed—through outright blocking or extended delays—than ever before.
Dr. Sheldon Goldman, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts who focuses on judicial nominations, has developed what he calls an “Index of Obstruction and Delay” designed to measure levels of obstructionism. In research that will be released in a July article he co-authored for Judicature Journal, he has calculated that the level of obstruction of Obama circuit court nominees during the last Congress was unprecedented.
Goldman calculates his Index of Obstruction and Delay by adding together the number of unconfirmed nominations, plus the number of nominations that took more than 180 days to confirm (not including nominations towards the end of a given Congress) and dividing that by the total number of nominations. During the last Congress, Goldman calculates, the Index of Obstruction and Delay for Obama circuit court nominations was 0.9524.
“That’s the highest that’s ever been recorded,” he tells me. “In this last Congress it approached total obstruction or delay.”
Back in 2003-04, when George W. Bush had a Republican-controlled Senate and Democrats were blocking his nominees, the obstruction index was just 0.6176. Yes, Democrats did it too—Republicans' and Villagers' favorite rejoinder when anyone points out how egregious the GOP stonewalling has become—but to a much, much lesser degree. Sargent also links to
this report from the Congressional Research Service showing that, of the past five presidents, Obama has had the far longest average and mean waiting time between nomination and confirmation for his circuit and district court nominees—more than 182 days. Half a year is the
average waiting period for his nominees.
These three are going to have a long wait too if the GOP has their way. According to a Senate GOP aide, it will likely take at least "a couple of months" before the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee agree to bring up the nominations. Committee Chair Patrick Leahy has in the past waited for agreement from the minority before bringing nominees before the committee.
But there doesn't seem to be any rule that requires he do so. Remember, Harry Reid wants to bring three executive nominations to the floor in July, to push the limits of Republican obstruction and potentially break the filibuster. If Leahy pushes ahead without Republican acquiescence, these three nominees could add to Reid's confirmation pile, making these nominations a test for Leahy, as well. Will he help push the filibuster reform agenda?
Stay tuned. And keep the pressure on. Please use this link to send an email to your Democratic senators telling them to re-open filibuster reform and make the Senate function again.