U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations by President George W. Bush During the 107th-109th Congresses

Congressional research reportJan 23, 2007

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Order Code RL31868

U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations

by President George W. Bush

During the 107th-109th Congresses

Updated January 23, 2007

Denis Steven Rutkus

Specialist in American National Government

Government and Finance Division

Kevin M. Scott

Analyst in American National Government

Government and Finance Division

Maureen Bearden

Information Research Specialist

Knowledge Services Group

U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations by

President George W. Bush

During the 107th - 109th Congresses

Summary

During his presidency, as of the final adjournment of the 109th Congress, 51 of

President George W. Bush’s 68 nominees to the U.S. circuit courts of appeals

received Senate confirmation. Of the 17 nominees not confirmed, the nominations

of three were withdrawn by the President, and the remaining 14 were returned at the

end of a Congress; however, four of the 14, after having their nominations returned

at the end of the 109th Congress, were renominated at the start of the 110th Congress.

None of President Bush’s circuit nominees has been rejected in a Senate confirmation

vote. Two were defeated in committee votes, in the 107th Congress, although both

were renominated in the 108th Congress, where one was confirmed.

In the 108th Congress, the Senate could not agree to close debate on 10 circuit

court nominees. Following controversy over the propriety of filibusters on judicial

nominations, a compromise was reached in the 109th Congress which resulted in

confirmation votes for five of the 10 nominees. The other five, however, failed to

gain confirmation. Two of the 10 nominees were given temporary recess

appointments by President Bush. After the appointment of one of these nominees

expired at the end of the Congress, he was not renominated in the 109th Congress.

The other recess appointee, prior to the expiration of his appointment, was

renominated in the 109th Congress and subsequently confirmed.

Of President Bush’s 237 nominees to the U.S. district courts, through the end

of the 109th Congress, 206 were confirmed (185 in the first Congress in which they

were nominated). Of the 31 not confirmed, the nominations of three were withdrawn,

and the other 28 were returned at the end of the 109th Congress. Twenty-four of the

28 had been renominated in the 110th Congress, as of January 19, 2007. None of

President Bush’s district court nominees was defeated in a committee vote or

rejected in a Senate confirmation vote.

President Bush’s circuit nominees, like those of most other recent Presidents,

have had more difficulty than his district nominees in receiving Senate confirmation.

As of the close of the 109th Congress, 75.0% of his circuit nominees had been

confirmed, compared with 86.9% of his district nominees. The average (mean) time

elapsed between first nomination and confirmation for his circuit nominees was 366

days, more than twice as much as the corresponding time interval of 171 days for

district nominees. With recent presidencies, the average time taken for circuit

nominees to be confirmed has risen steadily — from an average time of 68 days, 104

days, 249 days, and 366 days, respectively for the circuit nominees of Presidents

Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. With

recent presidencies, a steady, but less dramatic rise has also occurred in the average

time taken for district nominees to be confirmed.

This report will be updated upon the final adjournment of the 110th Congress.

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Judicial Appointment Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Structure and Contents of the Nominee and Nominations Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Nominee Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Nominations Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Statistical Findings from the Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Circuit Court Nominees During the Presidency of George W. Bush . . . . . . 10

Nominees Failing to Receive Senate Votes after Unsuccessful

Cloture Motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Recess Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Nominees Defeated in Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Length in Time of the Appointment Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

President Bush’s Circuit Court Nominations During

Particular Congresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The 107th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

The 108th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The 109th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

District Court Nominees During the Presidency of George W. Bush . . . . . 20

Confirmed Nominees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Withdrawn Nominees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

President Bush’s District Court Nominations During

Particular Congresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The 107th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The 108th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

The 109th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Comparison of President Bush’s Circuit Court Nominations with

His District Court Nominations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Comparison of President Bush’s Circuit and District Nomination Statistics

with Those of Other Recent Presidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Number of Nominees, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed . 28

Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number of Days from

Nomination to Confirmation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

District Court Nominations: Average Number of Days from

Nomination to Confirmation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Circuit Court Nominees: Average Number of Days from

Nomination to Final Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

District Court Nominees: Average Number of Days from

Nomination to Final Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Appendix 1: President George W. Bush’s Nominees to the

U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, 107th-109th Congresses

(January 20, 2001-December 9, 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Appendix 2. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the

U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals During the 107th Congress

(January 20, 2001-November 20, 2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Appendix 3. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the

U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals During the 108th Congress

(January 7, 2003-December 8, 2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Appendix 4. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the

U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals During the 109th Congress

(January 4, 2005 - December 9, 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Appendix 5: President George W. Bush’s Nominees to the

U.S. District Courts, 107th-109th Congresses

(January 20, 2001-December 9, 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Appendix 6. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the

U.S. District Courts During the 107th Congress

(January 20, 2001-November 20, 2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Appendix 7. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the

U.S. District Courts During the 108th Congress

(January 7, 2003-December 8, 2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Appendix 8. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the

U.S. District Courts During the 109th Congress

(January 4, 2005-December 9, 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

List of Figures

Figure 1. U.S. Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number of Days from

Nomination to Confirmation, 95th Congress to 109th Congress (January 20, 1977

- December 9, 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Figure 2. U.S. District Court Nominations: Average Number of Days from

Nomination to Confirmation, 95th Congress to 109th Congress (January 20, 1977

- December 9, 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Figure 3. Average Time to Disposition, Confirmed and Unconfirmed Nominees to

the U.S. Courts of Appeals, by President (January 20, 1977 - December 9, 2006)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Figure 4. Average Time to Disposition, Confirmed and Unconfirmed Nominees to

the U.S. District Courts, by President (January 20, 1977 - December 9, 2006)

List of Tables

Table 1. Mean and Median Number of Days Elapsed from First Nomination

to Disposition of Last Nomination for President George W. Bush’s

Nominees to U.S. Circuit or District Court Judgeships

(January 20, 2001 - December 9, 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Table 2. Number of Congresses in Which Persons Were Nominated by

President George W. Bush to U.S. Circuit or District Court Judgeships

(January 20, 2001 - December 9, 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Table 3. U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominees of Five Most Recent

Presidents (January 20, 1977 - December 9, 2006): Total and Per Year

Number of Nominees, Total and Per Year Number Confirmed, and

Percent of Total Confirmed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations

by President George W. Bush

During the 107th-109th Congresses

Introduction

In recent years, the process by which lower federal court judges are nominated

by the President and confirmed by the Senate has been of increasing interest to

Congress. In order to provide Congress with a continuing overview of this process,

this report provides statistics on all of President George W. Bush’s nominations to

U.S. courts of appeals and U.S. district courts during the 107th, 108th, and 109th

Congresses, and any actions taken on these nominations by the Senate Judiciary

Committee and the full Senate.1

U.S. courts of appeals review appeals from federal trial court opinions and are

empowered to review and enforce the orders of many administrative agencies. Cases

presented to these courts are generally considered by judges sitting in three-member

panels. Altogether, 179 permanent appellate court judgeships are authorized by law.

Courts within the courts of appeals system are often called “circuit courts,” because

they are divided into 12 geographic circuits and an additional nationwide circuit

having specialized subject matter jurisdiction. In this report, nominations to U.S.

courts of appeals judgeships are referred to as “circuit court nominations.”

U.S. district courts are the trial courts of general federal jurisdiction. Each state

has at least one district court, while some states have as many as four. There are 678

district court judgeships authorized by law, including those for the District of

Columbia, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands,

and the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.2

This report is in keeping with earlier CRS reports which tracked actions taken on judicial

nominations by other recent Presidents. See CRS Report 98-510, Judicial Nominations by

President Clinton During the 103rd-106th Congresses, by Denis Steven Rutkus, and CRS

Report 93-395, President [George H. W.] Bush’s Judicial Nominations During the 101st102nd Congresses, by Denis Steven Rutkus.

The 678 total consists of 667 permanently authorized judgeships and 11 “temporary”

judgeships (which, pursuant to statute, temporarily increase the number of judgeships for

specified judicial districts, with these districts reverting back to the permanently authorized

number of judgeships at a future time fixed by the statute — typically, when, after a

specified number of years, a judgeship in the district is vacated). All but four of the 678

judgeships entail lifetime appointments. The four exceptions are the one judgeship each

in Guam and the Northern Marianas, and the two in the Virgin Islands, to which judges are

appointed for 10-year terms.

CRS-2

President Bush’s nominations to these two court systems are listed in eight

appendix tables at the end of this report — Appendices 1-4 for circuit court

nominations, and Appendices 5-8 for district court nominations. Appendices 1 and

5 list all the persons nominated by President Bush during his presidency, as of

December 9, 2006,3 to the circuit and district courts, respectively. The other six

tables list all of the circuit and district court nominations made by President Bush

during each Congress, — Appendices 2, 3, and 4 for circuit court nominations in the

107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses, respectively; and Appendices 6, 7, and 8 for

district court nominations in the same respective Congresses.

Appendices 1-8, it should be emphasized, account for every instance in which

a district or circuit court nomination was made, including renominations of

individuals to the same judgeship. As discussed below, some of President Bush’s

nominees were nominated to a circuit or district judgeship more than once within a

Congress, or nominated to the judgeship in more than one Congress. Accordingly,

discussion in this report regarding the number of nominations made by President

Bush to the circuit or district courts counts not only the initial nomination of a person

to a judgeship but any renominations as well. By contrast, discussion regarding the

actual number of persons nominated (or nominees) counts individual nominees only

once, even if they were nominated to the same judgeship more than once.

Within the text of this report are various statistical tables and bar graphs, using

data derived from Appendices 1-8. Table 1 presents, for President Bush’s circuit

and district nominees, the average and median number of days that elapsed from their

first nomination to disposition of their last nomination. Table 2 breaks down the

total number of persons nominated by President Bush to circuit and district court

judgeships by the number of Congresses in which they were nominated. Table 3

provides statistics comparing President Bush’s judicial nominations with those of his

four immediate predecessors in the White House. Table 3 shows, among other

things, the total number of persons nominated by President Bush — as well as by

each of the four previous Presidents — to district and circuit court judgeships and the

number and percentage of them who were confirmed. Figures 1 and 2 show, for

circuit and district nominations respectively, the average number of days that elapsed

from nomination date to confirmation, during each Congress from the 95th to the

109th, indicating which presidency coincided in time with each Congress. Figures

3 and 4 show, respectively, for the circuit and district court nominees of the five most

recent Presidents, the average number of days that elapsed from their first nomination

to final disposition of their last nomination.

The following text provides (1) a brief overview of the principal steps in the

judicial appointment process; (2) a more detailed description of the structure and

contents of Appendices 1-8 and the methodology used in gathering the tabular data;

and (3) a discussion of selected appointment statistics for circuit and district court

nominees and nominations in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses, which are

derived from, or presented in, the appendices.4

December 9, 2006, is the date of final adjournment of the 109th Congress.

The statistics include total number of nominees to district and circuit judgeships; number

of nominees confirmed; number of nominations (including re-nominations of nominees);

(continued...)

CRS-3

This report focuses on judicial nominations made by the President and on Senate

actions taken on the nominations by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate.

On rare occasions, appointments to federal courts also have been made without

submitting a nomination to the Senate, when a President exercises his constitutional

power to make “recess appointments.” Specifically, Article II, Section 2, clause 3

of the Constitution of the United States empowers the President to “fill up all

Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting

Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”5 President Bush

thus far during his presidency has made two recess appointments to circuit courts and

none to district courts.6

The Judicial Appointment Process

Under the Constitution of the United States, the President and the Senate share

the responsibility for filling vacancies within the federal judiciary.7 While it is the

President who nominates persons to fill federal judgeships, the appointment of each

nominee also requires Senate confirmation. Although not mentioned in the

Constitution, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary also plays an important role

midway in the process — after the President selects, but before the Senate as a whole

considers, the nominee.

The process for making lifetime appointments to U.S. district court and circuit

courts of appeals judgeships entails the same formal steps as those involved in the

(...continued)

number receiving committee hearings, committee votes, and Senate or other final action; and

average time taken to conduct hearings, committee votes, and Senate votes on the

nominations. Careful distinction is made in the text between number of nominations

(including renominations) and number of persons actually nominated.

See CRS Report RS21308, Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions, by Henry

B. Hogue.

On Jan. 26, 2004, President Bush recess-appointed Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi

to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Judge Pickering’s appointment expired

on Dec. 8, 2004, at the end of the second session of the 108th Congress, and he retired. On

Feb. 20, 2004, President Bush recess-appointed William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama to the

Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Pryor’s recess appointment was to last until the

end of the first session of the 109th Congress; however, before that appointment expired,

Judge Pryor was renominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate on June 9,

2005.

For more information on judicial recess appointments, see CRS Report RS22039,

Federal Recess Judges, by Louis Fisher; CRS Report RL33009, Recess Appointments: A

Legal Overview, by T.J. Halstead; and Henry B. Hogue, “The Law: Recess Appointments

to Article III Courts,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 34, Sept. 2004, pp. 656-673.

Article II, Section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution provides that the President “shall

nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of

the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not

herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law....”

CRS-4

appointment of justices to the Supreme Court.8 The process officially begins when

the President selects someone to fill a judicial vacancy, submitting a nomination in

writing to the Senate. Usually on the same day it is received by the Senate, the

nomination is referred to the Committee on the Judiciary (the Senate committee

having jurisdiction over district and circuit, as well as most other federal, court

nominations). The Judiciary Committee then holds a hearing on the nomination.

The committee subsequently meets to vote on whether to report the nomination to the

full Senate. A committee vote to report (even a vote to report with an unfavorable

recommendation) sends the nomination forward to be considered by the Senate as a

whole, while a vote against reporting (historically, a very rare occurrence) prevents

the nomination from going forward, and in effect defeats the nomination in

committee. The final step in the appointment process occurs when the Senate votes

to confirm or disapprove the nomination. A vote to confirm requires a simple

majority of Senators present and voting. If the Senate votes in the negative on

whether to confirm, the nomination is defeated, and a resolution of disapproval is

forwarded to the President.

As with nominations in general, judicial nominations sometimes fail to advance

through each procedural step in the appointment process. After referral to

committee, a nomination might not receive a hearing or, after receiving a hearing,

might not receive a committee vote on whether it should be reported. Even if

favorably reported by committee, the nomination might not receive a vote by the

Senate on whether to confirm. A nomination, for instance, will not, under Senate

rules, receive a vote on whether to confirm if some Senators oppose taking such a

vote and a “super-majority” of three-fifths of the full membership of the Senate fails

to vote in favor of a motion to close debate on the nomination.9 If it fails to receive

a Senate vote, the nomination ultimately will be either withdrawn by the President

or returned to the President by the Secretary of the Senate upon a Senate adjournment

or recess of more than 30 days.10

See CRS Report RL31989, Supreme Court Appointment Process: Roles of the President,

Judiciary Committee, and Senate, by Denis Steven Rutkus; and CRS Report RL31980,

Consideration of Presidential Nominations: Committee and Floor Procedure, by Elizabeth

Rybicki.

See CRS Report RL32878, Cloture Attempts on Nominations, by Richard S. Beth and

Betsy Palmer.

Rule XXXI, paragraph 6, Standing Rules of the Senate, provides, in part, that “if the

Senate shall adjourn or take a recess for more than thirty days, all nominations pending and

not finally acted upon at the time of taking such adjournment or recess shall be returned by

the Secretary to the President and shall not again be considered unless they shall again be

made to the Senate by the President.”

CRS-5

Structure and Contents of the Nominee and

Nominations Tables

The tables at the end of this report, Appendices 1-8, were generated from a CRS

database of nomination dates and actions created by Kevin M. Scott, CRS Analyst

in American National Government.11 The data for the CRS database were collected

primarily from the Presidential Nominations database in the Legislative Information

System of the U.S. Congress (LIS)12 and from daily editions of volumes 147-152 of

the Congressional Record (for the years 2001-2006).

Nominee Tables

As noted previously, Appendices 1 and 5 list, alphabetically, the names of all

persons nominated by George W. Bush during his presidency (through the end of the

109th Congress) to the circuit courts and to the district courts. These tables show the

following for each nominee:

how often and when the person was nominated to a particular

judgeship;

dates of committee hearings and committee action on all

nominations;

whether and when the nominee was confirmed;

if confirmed, the number of days that elapsed between the date of the

first nomination and the confirmation;

the outcome of the person’s most recent nomination, if the final

disposition was not one of confirmation;13

if not confirmed, the number of days that elapsed between the date of

the person’s first nomination and the final outcome of the person’s

most recent nomination.

The tables at the end also present, for all confirmed nominees, the average

number of days that elapsed between their first nomination and their confirmation, and

for all unconfirmed nominees, the average number of days that elapsed between their

first nomination and final disposition of their most recent nomination.

The database was created in part with the benefit of earlier nominations research

(conducted for previous versions of this report) by Mitchel A. Sollenberger, former CRS

Analyst in American National Government.

Available at [http://www.congress.gov/nomis/search.html]. The Presidential Nominations

database, covering the 97th through the 109th Congresses, provides for each nomination the

name of the nominee, nominee’s state of residence, appointive position, date of nomination,

hearing date, date of committee vote, date of Senate action, and type of Senate vote

(including roll call vote numbers).

For each nominee not confirmed as of the close of the 109th Congress, his or her last

nomination was either (1) returned to the President when the Senate adjourned for, or took

a recess of, more than 30 days, or (2) withdrawn by the President. Columns in Appendices

1 and 5 indicate the last nominations of nominees which were returned or withdrawn, the

dates of such actions, and the Congress in which the actions occurred.

CRS-6

Appendices 1 and 5 show all of the persons nominated by President Bush to the

circuit and district courts. These tables, however, do not provide comprehensive

information on committee and full Senate actions taken on these individuals’

nominations — such as Senate procedural votes and roll call votes on their

nominations, where Senate votes were by roll call. Detailed information of this sort

is provided in Appendices 2-4 (for circuit nominations) and 6-8 (for district

nominations).

Nominations Tables

The first six years of the presidency of George W. Bush roughly coincided in

time with three Congresses — the 107th Congress (2001-2002), the 108th (2003-2004),

and the 109th (2005-2006). Six tables list all of the circuit and district court

nominations made by President Bush during each of the three Congresses, and any

committee or Senate actions taken on the nominations. Appendices 2, 3, and 4

provide this information for circuit court nominations in the 107th, 108th, and 109th

Congresses, respectively, and Appendices 6, 7, and 8 do so for district court

nominations in the same respective Congresses.14

Nominations in all six of these tables are listed in chronological order according

to the date on which each nomination was received by the Senate. The tables show

how far along each nomination progressed in the appointment process and how many

days elapsed in the process. The procedural progress of each nomination is shown by

separate columns which indicate, respectively, the date on which any of the following

occurred:

the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the nomination;

the Judiciary Committee voted to report or take other action on the

nomination;

the Senate voted for confirmation, or some other action occurred.

In the “final action” column, a date by itself indicates that the Senate confirmed

the nominee by voice vote or by unanimous consent. A confirmation date with a vote

tally underneath indicates that Senate confirmation was by a roll call vote. This

column also shows the final disposition of nominations failing to receive Senate

confirmation. An entry of “Returned, 11/20/02,” for example, indicates that the

nomination was returned to the President on November 20, 2002 (upon the final

adjournment of the 107th Congress).15 An entry of “Withdrawn 03/19/01,” as another

example, indicates that, on that date, the nomination was withdrawn by the

Appendix 2 excludes from its listing nine circuit court nominations submitted at the start

of the 107th Congress by outgoing President William J. Clinton. These nominations were

submitted at the very beginning of the 107th Congress but in the final weeks of President

Clinton’s second term. All nine of these nominations were withdrawn by President Bush

on Mar. 19, 2001, although one of the nine nominees, Roger L. Gregory of Virginia, was

renominated by President Bush on May 9, 2001, and confirmed by the Senate on July 20,

2001.

Each such return occurs pursuant to Senate Rule XXXI, paragraph 6, which, as explained

earlier, provides for nominations to be returned to the President if the Senate adjourns or

takes a recess for more than 30 days.

CRS-7

President.16 The dates and roll call votes of other procedural actions affecting

nominations, such as motions to close debate, also have been entered in the “final

action” column.

The tables also show, for each nomination, the length of time that passed before

a committee hearing, committee vote, or final action took place. For each nomination,

separate columns present the number of days which elapsed between the Senate’s

receipt of the nomination and the dates on which it received a hearing, committee

vote, or Senate vote. Also, at the bottom of each of these three columns, the tables

show the average number of days which elapsed between the President’s submission

of judicial nominations to the Senate and the dates on which the nominations received

hearings, committee votes, or Senate votes. Each elapsed time average is shown in

two forms — as the mean number, and as the median number, of elapsed days.17

Although the arithmetic mean is the true “average” number, it has the disadvantage

of being skewed by extremely high or low values in a distribution of numbers.

“Loosely speaking,” one statistician has noted, “the median corresponds more closely

than the mean to the middle of a distribution [of a group of numbers]. It is unaffected

by extreme values.”18

A President may withdraw a nomination for any number of reasons. The Mar. 19, 2001,

withdrawal by President Bush of nine nominations submitted earlier by President William

J. Clinton, mentioned in a table note to Appendix 2, was in keeping with the usual practice

of incoming Presidents to withdraw pending nominations submitted by their predecessors.

Presidents also sometimes withdraw their own nominations. A President might do so, for

example, if the Senate committee to which the nomination has been referred either has voted

against reporting the nomination to the Senate, or has made clear its intention not to act on

the nomination; if the nomination, even if reported, is likely to face substantial opposition

on the Senate floor; or if the nominee has requested that the nomination be withdrawn. By

the end of the 109th Congress, President Bush had withdrawn three of his circuit nominations

and three of his district court nominations. See, in Appendix 3, the Jan. 7, 2003, circuit

court nomination of Miguel A. Estrada, which, at the nominee’s request, was withdrawn

by the President on Sept. 4, 2003, following seven unsuccessful votes in the Senate by

Estrada supporters to close debate on the nomination; in Appendix 4, the Feb. 14, 2005,

circuit court nomination of Henry W. Saad, which was withdrawn on Mar. 27, 2006, and the

Sept. 29, 2005, circuit court nomination of James H. Payne, which was withdrawn on Mar.

7, 2006; in Appendix 7, the Jan. 7, 2003, district nomination of Frederick W. Rohlfing III,

which was withdrawn on May 6, 2004; and, in Appendix 8, the Feb. 14, 2005, district

nomination of Daniel P. Ryan, which was withdrawn on Mar. 30, 2006, and the Feb. 14,

2006, district nomination of Jerome A. Holmes, which was withdrawn on May 4, 2006.

The mean number is the sum of the number of elapsed days for all of the nominations in

question divided by the number of those nominations. The median number is either (1) the

elapsed number of days for the nomination in the middle of the distribution of all the

nominations in question, with an equal number of the nominations having longer elapsed

times than that nomination, and an equal number of nominations having shorter elapsed

times; or (2) the mean of the elapsed number of days for the two nominations in the middle

of the distribution if there is no one middle nomination.

William H. Greene, Econometric Analysis, 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,

2003), p. 847. For an introduction to median versus mean and arguments surrounding when

each should be used, see chapter 3 in Alan Agresti and Barbara Finlay, Statistical Methods

for the Social Sciences, 3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997).

CRS-8

The time averages presented in Appendices 2-4 and Appendices 6-8 are

calculated from time-elapsed data for specific nominations, as opposed to overall time

an individual might have been in nominee status. Thus, in the case of an individual

nominated twice to the same judgeship, time-elapsed data are counted separately for

each nomination — rather than, for instance, measuring the time between a nominee’s

first nomination and any action (hearing, committee vote, or Senate vote) on the

nominee’s second nomination. A nomination not receiving a committee hearing,

committee vote, or Senate vote is excluded from the calculation of average time

between the nomination date and this particular procedural step. Also, three

nominations in which nominees received hearings were, nevertheless, excluded from

the calculations of average time between nomination and hearing because the hearings

in all three instances preceded the nomination dates.19

As noted above, some individuals were nominated more than once to a judgeship

within the same Congress. Appendix 2 includes 20 circuit court nominations,

submitted by President Bush during the 107th Congress, between May 9 and August

2, 2001, which the Senate returned to the President on August 3, 2001, at the start of

the Senate’s August 2001 recess, pursuant to Senate Rule XXXI.20 Appendix 6

includes 20 district court nominations submitted by President Bush during the107th

Congress, between June 18 and August 2, 2001, which the Senate returned at the start

of its August 2001 recess. When the Senate reconvened on September 4, 2001,

President Bush renominated all 40 of the individuals involved.21 Similarly, footnotes

to the initial 20 circuit and 20 district court nominations that were returned to the

President indicate that the nominees in question were later renominated. In the 108th

and 109th Congresses, several additional nominees were renominated at least once in

the same Congress. In the 108th Congress, three individuals were nominated twice.22

In Appendix 2, see circuit court nomination of Sharon Prost on Sept. 4, 2001; in

anticipation of this nomination, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing for Ms. Prost on

Aug. 27, 2001. In Appendix 5, see district court nominations of Reggie B. Walton and

Terry L. Wooten on Sept. 4, 2001; in anticipation of these nominations, the Judiciary

Committee held a hearing for Walton on Aug. 22, 2001, and a hearing for Wooten on Aug.

27, 2001.

As noted earlier, Senate Rule XXXI, paragraph 6, provides that nominations pending in

the Senate at the time that the Senate adjourns or takes a recess of more than 30 days shall

be returned to the President. Usually, but not always, the Senate, before starting a recess

of more than 30 days, waives this rule by unanimous consent, allowing pending nominations

to remain in “status quo” and continue to be pending in the Senate after it reconvenes.

Sometimes, however, when Rule XXXI, paragraph 6, is not waived, nominations, pursuant

to the rule, are returned to the President and can only be considered again if they are

resubmitted by the President.

Footnotes to each of these “resubmitted” nominations are provided, indicating that the

nominees had been nominated earlier to the same judgeships.

In the 108th Congress, as Appendix 3 reveals, three persons were nominated more than

once to circuit judgeships; Claude A. Allen of Virginia was nominated to the Fourth Circuit

on Apr. 28, 2003, and Jan. 20, 2004; Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi was nominated

to the Fifth Circuit on Jan. 7, 2003, and Feb. 6, 2004; William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama was

nominated to the Eleventh Circuit on Apr. 9, 2003, and Mar. 12, 2004. For both Pickering

and Pryor, the second nomination in the 108th Congress was to a life term to the position to

which they had been recess-appointed earlier in that same Congress.

CRS-9

In the 109th Congress, five individuals were nominated three times following returns

as the Senate went into recess in August and again in September.23

Several of President Bush’s judicial nominees also have been nominated in more

than one Congress. Appendix 3, for example, shows that the first 14 circuit court

nominations in the 108th Congress were of individuals previously nominated in the

107th Congress. Likewise, Appendix 7 shows that the first 15 district court

nominations in the 108th Congress were of individuals previously nominated in the

107th Congress.24

More recently, in the 109th Congress, President Bush’s first 20 judicial

nominations were all resubmissions from the 108th Congress. Submitted on February

14, 2005, the 20 resubmissions involved 12 circuit nominees and eight district court

nominees who had earlier nominations returned to the President at the final

adjournment of the 108th Congress.25 Moreover, six of the 12 circuit nominees had

been nominated in two prior Congresses — in the 107th as well as in the 108th — as

had two of the eight district court nominees.26

See, in Appendix 4, the Feb. 14, 2005, Sept. 5, 2006, and Nov. 15, 2006, nominations of

Terrence W. Boyle of North Carolina to the Fourth Circuit, William G. Myers III of Idaho

to the Ninth Circuit, and William J. Haynes II, of Virginia, also to the Fourth Circuit; the

Dec, 16, 2005, Sept. 5, 2006, and Nov. 15, 2006, nominations of N. Randy Smith of Idaho

to the Ninth Circuit; and the Feb. 8, 2006, Sept. 5, 2006, and Nov. 15, 2006, nominations

of Michael B. Wallace of Mississippi to the Fifth Circuit.

All of these resubmitted nominations are footnoted in Appendices 3 and 7 to indicate that

the persons involved also had been nominated in the 107th Congress.

All of the nominations returned at the end of the 108th Congress which were resubmitted

in the 109th Congress have footnotes in Appendices 3 and 7 to indicate that fact.

See in Appendices 2 and 3 the circuit court nominations in the 107th and 108th Congresses

of Terrence W. Boyle, Priscilla R. Owen, Richard A. Griffin, David W. McKeague, Susan

B. Neilson, and Henry W. Saad. See in Appendices 6 and 7 the district court nominations

in the 107th and 108th Congresses of Thomas L. Ludington and James C. Dever III.

CRS-10

Statistical Findings from the Tables

Circuit Court Nominees During the Presidency

of George W. Bush

Between January 20, 2001, and December 9, 2006, 51 of President George W.

Bush’s 68 nominees to the U.S. circuit courts received Senate confirmation.27 Of the

17 nominees not confirmed, the nominations of three were withdrawn by the

President,28 and the remaining 14 were returned at the end of a Congress.29 Four of

the 14, after having their nominations returned at the end of the 109th Congress, were

renominated at the start of the110th Congress.30

Nominees Failing to Receive Senate Votes after Unsuccessful

Cloture Motions. None of President Bush’s circuit court nominees has been

rejected by the Senate on a vote of whether to confirm. However, in the 108th

Congress, in the face of significant opposition to their nominations on the Senate

Appendix 1 identifies all of President Bush’s confirmed circuit court nominees and their

confirmation dates, as of Dec. 9, 2006, listing the nominees in alphabetical order.

See, in Appendix 3, the Jan. 7, 2003, nomination of Miguel A. Estrada of Virginia and,

in Appendix 4, the Feb. 14, 2005, nomination of Henry W. Saad of Michigan and the Sept.

29, 2005, nomination of James H. Payne of Oklahoma — all three of which subsequently

were withdrawn by President Bush.

The nominations of eight of the 14 were returned at the end of a Congress and not

resubmitted in a subsequent Congress. Specifically, the Oct. 8, 2001, nomination of

William H. Steele of Alabama (in Appendix 2) was returned to the President at the end of

the 107th Congress and not resubmitted in a subsequent Congress. The Jan. 7, 2003,

nomination of Carolyn B. Kuhl of California, the Jan. 7, 2003, and Feb. 6, 2004,

nominations of Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi, and the Jan. 20, 2004, nomination

of Claude A. Allen of Virginia (all in Appendix 3) were returned to the President at the end

of the 108th Congress and not resubmitted in the 109th Congress. The Nov. 15, 2006,i

nominations of Terrence W. Boyle of North Carolina, William G. Myers III of Idaho,

William J. Haynes II of Virginia, and Michael B. Wallace of Mississippi (all in Appendix

4) were returned at the end of the 109th Congress, and subsequent news accounts reported

that all four nominees had asked the President that they not be renominated in the 110th

Congress. See Neil A. Lewis, “Bush Drops Plans to Renominate 3 Judges,” New York

Times, Jan. 10, 2007, p. A18, and Seth Stern, “Fifth Circuit Nominee Takes Himself Out of

the Running,” CQ Today, Dec. 26, 2006, available at [http://www.cq.com].

The nominations of two of the 14 (see in Appendices 1 and 4, the June 28, 2006,

nominations to the Sixth Circuit of Raymond M. Kethledge of Michigan and Stephen J.

Murphy II, both of Michigan), after being returned at the end of the 109th Congress, were

reportedly, as of Jan. 9, 2007, under consideration for renomination in the 110th Congress.

See Ed Whelan, “Re: Court of Appeals Nominations,” Bench Memos, Jan. 9, 2007, available

at [http://bench.nationalreview.com].

The nominations of four of the 14, as discussed in the next footnote, after being

returned at the end of the 109th Congress, were resubmitted at the beginning of the 110th

Congress.

As of Jan. 19, 2007, the four persons renominated to circuit judgeships in the 110th

Congress were Thomas M. Hardiman, Peter D. Keisler, and Debra A. Livingston (all

renominated on Jan. 9, 2007), and N. Randy Smith (renominated on Jan. 16, 2007). See

Appendices 1 and 4.

CRS-11

floor, 10 circuit court nominees failed to receive final Senate votes after one or more

motions to close debate on their nominations proved unsuccessful.31 Subsequently,

in the 109th Congress, following controversy over the propriety of filibusters on

judicial nominations, a compromise was reached in the Senate,32 which resulted in

confirmation votes for five of those 10 circuit nominees.33 The five others among the

10, however, ultimately failed to gain confirmation: the nomination of one of the five

was withdrawn in the 108th Congress (after seven unsuccessful votes on motions to

close debate);34 the nominations of two were returned at the end of the 108th Congress

and were not followed by renomination in the 109th Congress;35 a renomination of the

fourth was withdrawn in the 109th Congress;36 and the fifth nominee was renominated

in the 109th Congress but was not renominated at the beginning of the 110th

Congress.37

Recess Appointments. Two of the 10 circuit nominees on whom the Senate

could not agree to close debate in the 108th Congress were, later in that Congress,

given temporary recess appointments by President Bush. After the recess appointment

of one of these nominees expired at the end of the 108th Congress, he was not renominated by President Bush in the 109th Congress.38 Prior to the expiration of the

The Senate can close debate by passing a cloture motion, which requires a super-majority

of three-fifths of the Senate, or 60 Members, voting in favor. During the 108th Congress,

the 10 nominations on which the Senate voted, on one or more occasions, not to close debate

were the Jan. 7, 2003, nominations of Miguel Estrada of Virginia, Richard A. Griffin of

Michigan, Carolyn B. Kuhl of California, David W. McKeague of Michigan, Priscilla R.

Owen of Texas, Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi, and Henry W. Saad of Michigan;

the Apr. 9, 2003, nomination of William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama; the May 15, 2003,

nomination of William G. Myers III of Idaho; and the July 25, 2003, nomination of Janice

R. Brown of California. On each of these occasions, as Appendix 3 shows, the number of

votes needed to close debate fell short of 60.

For an account of how this compromise was reached, as well as of the details of the

compromise, see David Nather, “The Centrists Strike Back,” CQ Weekly, vol. 63, May 30,

2005, p. 1420.

See, in Appendix 4, the Feb. 14, 2005, nominations of Richard A. Griffin, David W.

McKeague, Priscilla R. Owen, William H. Pryor Jr., and Janice R. Brown — all

subsequently confirmed.

See, in Appendix 3, the Jan. 7, 2003, nomination of Miguel A. Estrada.

See, in Appendix 3, the Jan. 7, 2003, nominations of Carolyn B. Kuhl and Charles W.

Pickering Sr.

See, in Appendix 4, the Feb. 14, 2005, nomination of Henry W. Saad.

See, in Appendix 1, the nominations of William G. Myers III. Myers was renominated

three times in the 109th Congress, with each nomination returned to the President upon a

Senate recess of more than 30 days (the last return occurring at the final adjournment of the

109th Congress). Media accounts at the opening of the 110th Congress reported that

President George W. Bush did not intend to resubmit Myers in the 110th Congress. See

Keith Perine, “Bush Pulls Plug on Doomed Judicial Nominations, but Differences Remain,”

CQ Today News, Jan. 9, 2007, available at [http://www.cq.com].

On Jan. 16, 2004, between the first and second sessions of the 108th Congress, Charles W.

Pickering Sr. of Mississippi (whose nomination in the 107th Congress had been rejected by

(continued...)

CRS-12

other nominee’s recess appointment, he was renominated by President Bush in the

109th Congress and subsequently confirmed by the Senate.39

Nominees Defeated in Committee. Two of President Bush’s circuit

nominations were defeated in committee votes. These defeats occurred when the

Senate Judiciary Committee, in the 107th Congress, voted not to report their

nominations to the Senate.40 The two nominees were renominated by President Bush

in the 108th Congress and this time were reported out favorably by the Judiciary

Committee.41 However, they (along with eight other circuit nominees) failed to

receive final Senate votes in the 108th Congress, after motions to close debate on their

nominations proved unsuccessful. Ultimately, one of the two nominees was

renominated in the 109th Congress and confirmed by the Senate in a 55-43 roll call

vote.42 The other nominee was given a temporary recess appointment by President

between the first and second sessions of the 108th Congress; at the end of that

Congress, his recess appointment expired, and he was not renominated by President

Bush in the 109th Congress.43

Length in Time of the Appointment Process. Appendix 1 reveals that

President Bush’s circuit court nominees have varied considerably in how quickly they

have advanced through the appointment process.44 For some who were nominated

(...continued)

the Senate Judiciary Committee) was recess appointed to the Fifth Circuit by President

Bush. The appointment expired on Dec. 8, 2004, at the end of the second session of the

108th Congress. Judge Pickering retired at that time and was not renominated by President

Bush in the 109th Congress. In Appendix 3, see the Jan. 7, 2003, and Feb. 6, 2004,

nominations of Judge Pickering, both of which were returned to the President on Dec. 8,

2004.

On Feb. 20, 2004, during a recess within the second session of the 108th Congress,

William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama was recess appointed to the Eleventh Circuit by President

Bush. The appointment was to expire at the end of the Senate’s first session in the 109th

Congress, the sine die adjournment of which occurred on Dec. 22, 2005. However, on Feb.

14, 2005, early in the 109th Congress, Pryor was renominated by President Bush and

confirmed on June 9, 2005, more than six months before his recess appointment would have

expired. See, in Appendix 3, the Apr. 9, 2003, and Mar. 12, 2004, nominations of Pryor,

both of which were returned to the President on Dec. 8, 2004, and, in Appendix 4, the Feb.

14, 2005, nomination, which was confirmed.

See, in Appendix 2, the Sept. 4, 2001, nominations of Priscilla R. Owen of Texas and

Charles W. Pickering Sr., of Mississippi, both to the Fifth Circuit. In the case of both

nominations, the committee defeated successive motions to report favorably, to report

without recommendation, and to report unfavorably (doing so with the Pickering nomination

on Mar. 14, 2002, and with the Owen nomination on Sept. 5, 2002).

See, in Appendix 3, the Jan. 7, 2003, nominations of Priscilla R. Owen and Charles W.

Pickering Sr.

See, in Appendix 4, the Feb. 14, 2005, nomination of Priscilla R. Owen.

See above footnote regarding the Jan. 16, 2004, recess appointment of Charles W.

Pickering Sr. of Mississippi to the Fifth Circuit by President Bush.

Specifically, it will be noted, the table shows, among other things, the number of days that

elapsed from the date of each nominee’s first nomination to the date of the final disposition

(continued...)

CRS-13

more than once to a circuit judgeship, the elapsed time between first nomination and

final disposition on a subsequent nomination has extended over two or more

Congresses. For other individuals, though, the overall appointment process was

much briefer.

Specifically, Appendix 1 shows that, during the course of his presidency, 20 of

George W. Bush’s 68 circuit court nominees have been nominated in two or more

Congresses — with 14 nominated in two Congresses, and six nominated in three

successive Congresses. Of the six nominated in three Congresses, four have been

confirmed,45 one was withdrawn,46 and the nomination of the sixth person was

returned at the end of the 109th Congress and was not resubmitted at the beginning of

the 110th Congress.47

Confirmed Nominees. The longest interval between first nomination and

confirmation for a Bush circuit nominee was 1,477 days — slightly more than four

years.48 The least amount of elapsed time for a circuit nominee between first

nomination and confirmation was 63 days.49 The bottom rows of Appendix 1 show

(...continued)

of the nominee’s last nomination, as of the end of the 109th Congress.

See the nominations of: Priscilla R. Owen to the Fifth Circuit on May 9, 2001, and Sept.

4, 2001 (both in 107th Congress), Jan. 7, 2003 (108th Congress), and Feb. 14, 2005 (109th

Congress) — the last confirmed on May 25, 2005; David W. McKeague to the Sixth Circuit

on Nov. 8, 2001 (107th Congress), Jan. 7, 2003 (108th Congress), and Feb. 14, 2005 (109th

Congress) — the last confirmed on June 9, 2004; Susan B. Neilson to the Sixth Circuit on

Nov. 8, 2001 (107th Congress), Jan. 7, 2003 (108th Congress), and Feb. 14, 2005 (109th

Congress) — - the last confirmed on Oct. 27, 2005; and Richard A. Griffin to the Sixth

Circuit on June 26, 2002 (107th Congress), Jan. 7, 2003 (108th Congress), and Feb. 14, 2005

(109th Congress) — the last confirmed on June 9, 2005.

See the nominations of Henry W. Saad to the Sixth Circuit on Nov. 8, 2001 (107th

Congress), Jan. 8, 2003 (108th Congress), and Feb. 14, 2005 (109th Congress). The last

nomination was withdrawn on Mar. 27, 2006.

See the nominations of Terrence W. Boyle to the Fourth Circuit on May 9, 2001, and Sept.

4, 2001 (both in the 107th Congress), Jan. 7, 2003 (108th Congress), and Feb. 14, 2005, Sept.

5, 2006, and Nov. 15, 2006 (all in the 109th Congress).

See again, in Appendix 1, nominee Priscilla R. Owen, first nominated on May 9, 2001,

and confirmed on May 25, 2005. The circuit nominees with the next highest number of days

elapsed between their first nomination and confirmation were the other three nominees,

mentioned above, who were confirmed after being nominated in three straight Congresses:

Susan B. Neilson (1,449 days — first nominated Nov. 8, 2001), David W. McKeague (1,309

days — first nominated Nov. 8, 2001), and Richard A. Griffin (1,079 days — first

nominated June 26, 2002).

See in Appendix 1 the nomination of Bobby E. Shepherd to the Eighth Circuit on May

18, 2006, which was confirmed on July 20, 2006. The circuit nominees with the next-fewest

number of days of elapsed time between their first (and only) nomination and confirmation

were Michael A. Chagares to the Third Circuit (69 days — nominated Jan. 25, 2006),

William J. Riley to the Eighth Circuit (71 days — nominated May 23, 2001), and Roger L.

Gregory to the Fourth Circuit (72 days — nominated May 9, 2001). It should be noted that

Gregory had been nominated twice earlier by President William J. Clinton — with the

(continued...)

CRS-14

that for President Bush’s 51 circuit nominees confirmed, the average elapsed time

between first nomination and final disposition was 366 days. This average, or mean,

was arrived at by summing the number of days between first nomination and

confirmation for all 51 nominees in question, and then dividing by 51. However, the

median elapsed time (i.e., the time interval for the nominee in the midpoint of the

distribution of the 51 confirmed nominees) was significantly less — 216 days. In

other words, for 25 of the 51 confirmed circuit nominees, the elapsed time between

first nomination and confirmation was less than 216 days; for one nominee, in the

midpoint of the distribution, the elapsed time was exactly 216 days;50 and for 25

others, the elapsed time was more than 216 days.51

Withdrawn or Returned Nominees. As discussed above,52 17 other circuit

court nominees, as of the end of the 109th Congress, saw their most recent

nominations withdrawn by the President or returned to the President. Among the 17

nominees, the most elapsed time between first nomination and final disposition of last

nomination was 2,040 days,53 whereas the least elapsed time for this interval was 87

days.54 The mean elapsed time for the relatively small number of nominees in this

category was 710 days, and the median elapsed time was 407 days.55

President Bush’s Circuit Court Nominations

During Particular Congresses

(...continued)

second nomination occurring in the last days of the Clinton presidency — and that President

Bush, upon assuming office, withdrew that second nomination, only to renominate Gregory

himself on May 9, 2001. However, Appendix 1 lists the May 9, 2001, nomination as not

the second or third, but the first and only nomination, of Gregory, because it is a table

devoted exclusively to President Bush’s circuit court nominees.

See, in Appendix 1, the nomination of Michael J. Melloy to the Eighth Circuit. Melloy

was first nominated on July 10, 2001. That nomination was returned by the Senate on

August 3, 2001. Melloy was renominated on Sept. 4, 2001, and confirmed on Feb. 11, 2002

— a nomination-to-confirmation time interval of 216 days.

The mean (366 days) was much higher than the median (216 days) because the amount

of time elapsed between certain nominees’ first nominations and their confirmation dates

was markedly higher than nearly all other nominees. See in particular nominees Priscilla

R. Owen (elapsed time 1,477 days), Susan B. Neilson (1,449 days), David W. McKeague

(1,309 days), and Richard A. Griffin (1,079 days).

See, earlier in the body of this report, the first paragraph after the heading “Circuit Court

Nominees During the Presidency of George W. Bush.”

See, in Appendix 1, the first nomination of Terrence W. Boyle to the Fourth Circuit on

May 9, 2001, and the return of his sixth, and last, nomination on Dec. 9, 2006 — 2,040 days

later.

See, in Appendix 1, the first, nomination of Thomas M. Hardiman to the Third Circuit

on Sept. 13, 2006, which was returned to the President on Dec. 9, 2006, 87 days later.

Hardiman was renominated to the Third Circuit on Jan. 9, 2007.

See, in Appendix 1, the nomination of William H. Steele to the Eleventh Circuit. Steele

was nominated on Oct. 9, 2001, and that nomination was returned to the President on Nov.

20, 2002 — a time interval of 407 days.

CRS-15

The following are among the key statistical findings concerning President Bush’s

circuit court nominations during particular Congresses, and the actions and amount

of time taken on them.

The 107th Congress. President Bush submitted a total of 52 circuit court

nominations to the Senate during the 107th Congress. Twenty of the 52 nominations,

however, were resubmissions (i.e., renominations of persons nominated earlier in the

Congress). The resubmissions occurred when 20 circuit nominations, which had been

returned by the Senate to President Bush at the beginning of the Senate’s August 2001

recess, were resubmitted as new nominations upon the Senate’s reconvening in

September 2001. Hence, 32 individuals were nominated by President Bush to circuit

judgeships during the 107th Congress.

Of these 32 individuals, 17 were confirmed by the Senate (14 by roll call votes),56

and 15 saw their nominations returned to the President at the final adjournment of the

107th Congress. Of the 15 nominees not confirmed, 12 did not receive a Judiciary

Committee hearing; one received a committee hearing but not a committee vote;57 and

two were defeated in committee when the Judiciary Committee voted not to report

their nominations.58 The President renominated 14 of the 15 unconfirmed nominees

at the start of the 108th Congress.59

For circuit nominations that received committee hearings, committee votes, or

Senate confirmation votes in the 107th Congress, the average (mean) numbers of days

that elapsed between the date the nomination was received in the Senate and the

aforementioned actions were as follows:

For 19 of the 20 circuit nominations receiving committee hearings,60

an average of 176 days elapsed between the date a nomination was

received in the Senate and the holding of a hearing; the briefest time

The closest roll call was the 55-44 vote, on Nov. 19, 2002, confirming Dennis Shedd of

South Carolina to the Fourth Circuit; the second-closest was the 64-35 vote, on July 31,

2002, confirming D. Brooks Smith of Pennsylvania to the Third Circuit. In all the other roll

call votes on whether to confirm circuit court nominations, the Senate voted unanimously

in favor of confirmation, except for one roll call, in which one “nay” vote was recorded.

See Appendix 2.

See, in Appendix 2, the Sept. 4, 2001, nomination of Miguel A. Estrada to the D.C.

Circuit.

See, in Appendix 2, the Sept. 4, 2001, nominations of Priscilla R. Owen and Charles W.

Pickering Sr., both to the Fifth Circuit.

The Oct. 9, 2001, nomination of William H. Steele to the Eleventh Circuit, in Appendix

2, was returned to the President at the final adjournment of the 107th Congress on Nov. 20,

2002. Steele was not re-nominated in the 108th Congress. Table notes in Appendix 3

identify the 14 other circuit nominees who were renominated in the 108th Congress, after

their earlier nominations were returned to the President at the end of the 107th Congress.

A 20th circuit court nomination also received a committee hearing, but it was excluded

from the calculation of average elapsed time between date of nomination and committee

hearing because its hearing date preceded its nomination date. See, in Appendix 2, the

Sept. 24, 2001, nomination of Sharon Prost, in anticipation of which the Senate Judiciary

Committee held a hearing, on Aug. 27, 2001.

CRS-16

elapsing from Senate receipt to committee hearing was nine days, and

the longest time was 387 days.

For the 19 circuit nominations receiving committee votes, an average

of 194 days elapsed between Senate receipt and committee vote; the

briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to committee vote was two

days,61 and the longest time (for two nominations) was 436 days.

For the 17 circuit nominations receiving final Senate votes (all in

favor of confirmation), an average of 210 days elapsed between

Senate receipt and final Senate vote; the briefest time elapsing from

Senate receipt to Senate confirmation vote was 17 days, and the

longest time was 441 days.

For the 35 circuit nominations that were not confirmed, an average of 204 days

elapsed between Senate receipt and final action; the briefest time elapsing was one

day, and the longest time was 442 days.

The 108th Congress. President Bush submitted a total of 37 circuit court

nominations to the Senate during the 108th Congress. Three of the 37 nominations,

however, were renominations of persons nominated earlier in the Congress.62 Hence,

34 individuals were nominated by President Bush to circuit judgeships during the

108th Congress.

The 34 individuals nominated by President Bush to circuit judgeships during the

108th Congress included 14 who had first been nominated in the 107th Congress and

then resubmitted. Of the 34 nominees, 18 (including five of the resubmissions) were

confirmed by the Senate (14 by roll call votes),63 the nomination of one was

withdrawn by the President during the first session of the 108th Congress, and the

nominations of 15 were returned at the Congress’s final adjournment. All but one of

The nomination which received a committee vote just two days after its receipt by the

Senate was a resubmission of an earlier nomination to the same judgeship. See, in Appendix

2, the Sept. 4, 2001, nomination of Sharon Prost of the District of Columbia to the District

of Columbia Circuit. A hearing was held on Aug. 27, 2001, in anticipation of Ms. Prost’s

renomination, paving the way for a committee vote after Senate receipt of the nomination

without the need for a hearing first.

See in Appendix 3 the nomination of Charles W. Pickering Sr. to the Fifth Circuit on Jan.

7, 2003, followed by his renomination on Feb. 6, 2004; of Claude A. Allen to the Fourth

Circuit on Apr. 28, 2003, followed by his renomination on Jan. 20, 2004; and of William H.

Pryor Jr. to the Eleventh Circuit on Apr. 9, 2003, followed by his renomination on Mar. 12,

2004.

The closest roll call vote on whether to confirm was the 52-41 vote, on Apr. 29, 2003,

confirming Jeffrey S. Sutton of Ohio to the Sixth Circuit; the second-closest was the 58-41

vote, on Apr. 1, 2003, confirming Timothy M. Tymkovich of Colorado to the Tenth Circuit.

Substantial, though lesser, numbers of votes against confirmation were cast in the 66-25 vote

on May 5, 2003, to confirm Deborah L. Cook of Ohio to the Sixth Circuit; the 70-27 vote

on June 24, 2004, to confirm Diane S. Sykes of Wisconsin to the Seventh Circuit; and the

74-19, vote on Mar. 13, 2003, to confirm Jay S. Bybee of Nevada to the Ninth Circuit. In

the 10 other roll call confirmation votes for circuit nominees, the Senate voted in favor of

confirmation unanimously or with one “nay” vote recorded. See Appendix 3.

CRS-17

the 34 nominees received a hearing (31 during the 108th Congress, two during the

prior Congress),64 and 30 were reported out of committee, all favorably. Of the 16

circuit nominees not confirmed, one did not receive a committee hearing; no

committee vote was taken on three others; and 12 did not receive final Senate votes.

In the case of 10 of the 12 nominees, cloture motions filed to close debate on their

nominations failed to receive the required 60 votes.65 Two of the 10 nominations on

which motions to close debate failed were of the two persons who had been defeated

in the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 107th Congress.66 The nomination of one of

the other 10 nominees was withdrawn by the President, after seven unsuccessful

motions were made in the Senate to close debate on the nomination.67

For circuit nominations that received committee hearings, committee votes, or

Senate confirmation votes in the 108th Congress, the average (mean) numbers of days

that elapsed between the date the nomination was received in the Senate and the

aforementioned actions were as follows:

For the 31 circuit nominations receiving hearings, an average of 145

days elapsed between the date the nomination was received in the

Senate and the holding of a hearing; the briefest time elapsing from

Senate receipt to committee hearing was (for three nominations) 22

days, and the longest time was 610 days.

For the 30 circuit nominations receiving committee votes, an average

of 173 days elapsed between Senate receipt and committee vote; the

Two of the three circuit court nominees during the 108th Congress who did not receive

hearings during that Congress — Miguel Estrada of Virginia and Charles W. Pickering Sr.

of Mississippi — had received hearings during the 107th Congress. The third circuit

nominee not to receive a hearing during the 108th Congress, Terrence W. Boyle of North

Carolina, had been nominated twice earlier, during the 107th Congress, and had not received

a hearing on either of these nominations as well. Between his first nomination on May 9,

2001, in the 107th Congress and the return of his third nomination to the President at the

final adjournment of the 108th Congress on Dec. 8, 2004, Boyle was a circuit court nominee

for more than three sessions of Congress without receiving a hearing. Subsequently,

however, in the 109th Congress, Boyle was nominated to the circuit court a fourth time by

President Bush, on Feb. 14, 2005, and received a hearing on this nomination on Mar. 3,

2005. See Appendices 2, 3, and 4.

As noted earlier, the 10 nominations on which the Senate voted, on one or more occasions,

not to close debate were the Jan. 7, 2003, nominations of Miguel A. Estrada of Virginia,

Richard A. Griffin of Michigan, Carolyn B. Kuhl of California, David W. McKeague of

Michigan, Priscilla R. Owen of Texas, Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi, and Henry

W. Saad of Michigan; the Apr. 9, 2003, nomination of William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama; the

May 15, 2003, nomination of William G. Myers III of Idaho; and the July 25, 2003,

nomination of Janice R. Brown of California. See Appendix 3.

See, in Appendix 2 , the Mar. 14, 2002, votes by the Senate Judiciary Committee against

reporting the nomination of Charles W. Pickering Sr., and the Sept. 5, 2002, votes by the

committee against reporting the nomination of Priscilla R. Owen.

See, in Appendix 3, the Jan. 7, 2003, nomination of Miguel A. Estrada, which was

withdrawn by the President on Sept. 4, 2003, following seven Senate votes on motions to

close debate on the nomination.

CRS-18

briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to committee vote was 23

days, and the longest time 636 days.

For the 18 circuit nominations which received Senate confirmation

votes, an average of 140 days elapsed between Senate receipt and

final Senate vote; the briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to

Senate confirmation vote was 65 days, and the longest time was 234

days.68

For the 19 circuit nominations that were not confirmed, an average of 516 days

elapsed between Senate receipt and final action, the briefest time elapsing was 212

days, and the longest time was 701 days (for eight nominations).

The 109th Congress. President Bush submitted a total of 40 circuit

nominations to the Senate during the 109th Congress. Twelve of the nominations,

however, were renominations of persons nominated earlier in the Congress. (The

renominations followed the return to the President of one nomination at the end of the

1st session of the Congress,69 the return of five nominations at the start of the Senate’s

August 2006 recess,70 and the return of six nominations when the Senate recessed

again for more than 30 days on September 29, 2006.71) Hence, 28 individuals were

nominated by President Bush to circuit judgeships during the 109th Congress.

The 28 individuals nominated by President Bush to circuit judgeships during the

109th Congress included 12 who were nominated in the 108th Congress and then

renominated in the 109th Congress. Seven of the 12 had seen one or more

unsuccessful votes on the Senate floor to close debate on their nominations in the

108th Congress. Of the 28 nominees in the 109th Congress, the nominations of 16

(seven of them resubmissions from the 108th Congress) were confirmed by the Senate

(all but two by roll call);72 two were withdrawn by the President;73 and 10 were

Appendix 3 excludes from the measurement and averaging of times from Senate receipt

to final Senate vote the 10 circuit nominations during the 108th Congress on which there

were votes on motions to close Senate debate but no final votes on whether to confirm.

See in Appendix 4 the return of the Feb. 14, 2005, nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh,

followed by his renomination on Jan. 25, 2006.

See in Appendix 4 the return of the Feb. 14, 2005, nominations of Terrence W. Boyle,

William J. Haynes II and William G. Myers III, the Dec. 16, 2005, nomination of N. Randy

Smith, and the Feb. 8, 2006, nomination of Michael B. Wallace, all of whom were

renominated on Sept. 5, 2006.

See in Appendix 4 the return of the June 29, 2006, nomination of Peter D. Keisler and the

return of the Sept. 5, 2006, nominations of Terrence W. Boyle, William J. Haynes II,

William G. Myers III, N. Randy Smith, and Michael B. Wallace, all of whom were

renominated on Nov. 15, 2006.

On three of the nominations, the roll call votes were relatively close. See in Appendix

4, the 53-45 vote on June 9, 2005, confirming William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama to the

Eleventh Circuit; the 55-43 vote on May 25, 2005, confirming Priscilla R. Owen of Texas

to the Fifth Circuit; and the 56-43 vote on June 8, 2005, confirming Janice R. Brown of

California to the Ninth Circuit. On three other roll call votes, there was less, but still

(continued...)

CRS-19

returned at the end of the Congress. Two of the 28 nominees were nominated twice

in the 109th Congress;74 five were nominated three times.75 Twenty-four of the 28

circuit nominees in the 109th Congress had received hearings (either in the 109th or in

the prior Congress), and the nominations of 21 had been reported out of committee,

all favorably. Of the 10 nominees returned to the President at the end of the 109th

Congress, three did not receive a hearing, while the other seven received hearings on

at least one of their nominations in the 109th Congress.

For circuit nominations that received committee hearings, committee votes, or

Senate confirmation votes in the 109th Congress, the average (mean) numbers of days

that elapsed between the date the nomination was received in the Senate and the

aforementioned actions were as follows:

For the 17 circuit nominations receiving hearings in the 109th

Congress,76 an average of 76 days elapsed between the date the

nomination was received in the Senate and the holding of a hearing;

the briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to committee hearing

was 15 days, and the longest time was 512 days.

For the 20 circuit nominations receiving committee votes, an average

of 87 days elapsed between Senate receipt and committee vote; the

(...continued)

substantial, recorded opposition to confirmation. See in Appendix 4 the 73-24 vote on June

14, 2005, confirming Thomas B. Griffith to the District of Columbia Circuit; the 57-36 vote

on May 26, 2006, confirming Brett M. Kavanaugh to the District of Columbia Circuit; and

the 67-30 vote on July 25, 2006, confirming Jerome A. Holmes to the Tenth Circuit. On the

eight other roll call votes, the Senate voted unanimously in favor of confirmation. Two

other nominees, Neil M. Gorsuch (Tenth Circuit) and Bobby Shepherd (Eighth Circuit),

were confirmed in an en bloc voice vote on July 20, 2006.

See in Appendix 4 the Feb. 14, 2005, nomination of Henry W. Saad of Michigan to the

Sixth Circuit (withdrawn on Mar. 27, 2006), and the Sept. 29, 2005, nomination of James

H. Payne of Oklahoma to the Tenth Circuit (withdrawn on Mar. 7, 2006).

See in Appendix 4 the Feb. 14, 2005, and Jan. 25, 2006, nominations of Brett M.

Kavanaugh of Maryland to the District of Columbia Circuit and the June 29, 2006, and Nov.

15, 2006, nominations of Peter D. Keisler to the District of Columbia Circuit.

See, in Appendix 4, the Feb. 14, 2005, Sept. 5, 2006, and Nov. 15, 2006, nominations of

Terrence W. Boyle of North Carolina to the Fourth Circuit, William G. Myers III of Idaho

to the Ninth Circuit, and William J. Haynes II, of Virginia, also to the Fourth Circuit; the

Dec, 16, 2005, Sept. 5, 2006, and Nov. 15, 2006, nominations of N. Randy Smith of Idaho

to the Ninth Circuit; and the Feb. 8, 2006, Sept. 5, 2006, and Nov. 15, 2006, nominations

of Michael B. Wallace of Mississippi to the Fifth Circuit.

Seven other circuit court nominees in the109th Congress had received hearings earlier, on

nominations referred to the Judiciary Committee in the 108th Congress. In addition to those

seven, Brett M. Kavanaugh received hearings in both the 108th and 109th Congresses. See

Appendix 1.

CRS-20

briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to committee vote was 16

days,77 and the longest time was 248 days.

For the 16 circuit nominations which received Senate confirmation

votes, an average of 115 days elapsed between Senate receipt and

final Senate vote; the briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to

Senate confirmation vote was 63 days, and the longest time was 255

days.

For the 24 circuit nominations that were not confirmed, an average of 159 days

elapsed between Senate receipt and final action; the briefest time elapsing was 24

days, and the longest time was 535 days.

District Court Nominees During the Presidency

of George W. Bush

During the presidency of George W. Bush — from January 20, 2001, through

December 9, 2006 — 206 of his 237 nominees to the U.S. district courts received

Senate confirmation. Of the 31 nominees not confirmed, the nominations of three

were withdrawn by the President,78 and the other 28 were returned at the end of the

109th Congress.79 (As of January 19, 2007, 24 of the 28 were renominated to the same

district court judgeships in the 110th Congress, while one other was nominated again,

but this time to a circuit judgeship.)80 None of President Bush’s district nominees has

been defeated in a committee vote or rejected in a Senate confirmation vote.

An examination of Appendix 5 reveals that President Bush’s district court

nominees have varied considerably in how quickly they have advanced through the

appointment process. Of the 237 individuals nominated by the President to district

judgeships (as of the end of the 109th Congress), 216 were nominated in only one

Congress (with 187 confirmed in their respective Congresses, 28 returned at the end

of the 109th Congress, and one withdrawn in the same Congress as his first

This calculation is the time from receipt of the second nomination of N. Randy Smith to

the Ninth Circuit. The committee vote on Sept. 21, 2006, came 279 days after the first

nomination on Dec. 16, 2005. If this nomination is excluded, the shortest interval from

nomination to committee vote in the 109th Congress was 31 days.

See, in Appendices 5 and 7, the Jan. 7, 2003, nomination of Frederick W. Rohlfing III

to the District of Hawaii (withdrawn on May 6, 2004), and in Appendices 5 and 8 the Feb.

14, 2005, nomination of Daniel P. Ryan to the Eastern District of Michigan (withdrawn on

Mar. 30, 2006) and the Feb. 14, 2006, nomination of Jerome A. Holmes to the Northern

District of Oklahoma (withdrawn on May 4, 2006).

See, in Appendix 8, the 28 nominations with the listing of “Returned 12/09/06” in the

“Final Action” column.

See notes in Appendices 5 and 8 that identify nominees who were renominated in the

110th Congress. The district court nominee in the 109th Congress who was renominated in

the 110th Congress to a circuit judgeship was Leslie Southwick (initially nominated to

Southern District of Mississippi, then nominated to the Fifth Circuit).

CRS-21

nomination).81

Of the remaining 21 individuals, 19 were nominated in two

Congresses,82 and two were nominated in three Congresses.83 Nineteen of the 21

nominated in more than one Congress were confirmed; 18 in the second Congress in

which they were nominated, one in the third Congress in which he was nominated.84

The other two nominees whose nominations were submitted in more than one

Congress were withdrawn by the President.85

Confirmed Nominees. Of President Bush’s 206 confirmed district court

nominees, 187 were confirmed within the same Congress in which they were first

nominated, with 19 confirmed in a subsequent Congress. The most elapsed time for

a district court nominee between first nomination and confirmation was 1,365 days,

almost three years and nine months.86 The least amount of elapsed time for a district

nominee between first nomination and confirmation was 56 days.87 The bottom rows

of Appendix 5 show that for President Bush’s 206 district court nominees confirmed

as of December 9, 2006, the average, or mean, elapsed time between first nomination

and confirmation was 171 days, whereas the median elapsed time (i.e., the time

interval for the nominee in the midpoint of the distribution of the 206 confirmed

nominees) was 134 days.

See in Appendices 5 and 8 the Feb. 14, 2006, nomination of Jerome A. Holmes to the

Northern District of Oklahoma; Holmes was withdrawn on May 4, 2006, and nominated to

the Tenth Circuit that same day.

Examination of Appendix 5 reveals that 13 individuals were nominated to district

judgeships in both the 107th and 108th Congresses, and that six others were nominated to

district judgeships in both the 108th and 109th Congresses.

The two were James C. Dever (first nominated to the Eastern District of North Carolina

on May 22, 2002, and ultimately confirmed on Apr. 28, 2005), and Thomas L. Ludington

(first nominated to the District of Eastern Michigan on Sept. 12, 2002, and whose third

nomination was confirmed on June 8, 2006). See Appendix 5.

See, in Appendix 5, nominee James C. Dever III, first nominated on May 22, 2002, in the

107th Congress, nominated again on Jan. 7, 2003, in the 108th Congress, and nominated a

third time, on Feb. 14, 2005, in the 109th Congress, and who ultimately was confirmed, on

Apr. 28, 2005.

See, in Appendix 5, nominees Frederick W. Rohlfing III, first nominated on Jan. 23,

2002, in the 107th Congress, and whose second nomination, on Jan. 7, 2003, in the 108th

Congress, was withdrawn on May 6, 2004, and Daniel P. Ryan, first nominated on Apr. 28,

2003, in the 108th Congress, whose second nomination on Feb. 14, 2004, in the 109th

Congress, was withdrawn, on Mar. 30, 2006.

See again, in Appendix 5, nominee Thomas L. Ludington for the Eastern District of

Michigan, 1,365 days between first nomination on Sept. 12, 2002, and confirmation on June

8, 2006. The nominees with the next highest number of days elapsed between first

nomination and confirmation are James C. Dever III, nominated to the Eastern District of

North Carolina, 1,072 days between first nomination on May 22, 2002, and confirmation on

Apr. 28, 2005; and Peter Sheridan, nominated to the District of New Jersey, 946 days

between first nomination on Nov. 5, 2003, and confirmation on June 8, 2006.

See, in Appendix 5, nominee L. Scott Coogler for the Northern District of Alabama,

nominated on Mar. 27, 2003, and confirmed on May 22, 2003. Nominees James V. Selna

for the Central District of California and Philip P. Simon for the Northern District of

Indiana, were both nominated on Jan. 29, 2003, and both confirmed on Mar. 27, 2003 — an

interval of 57 days.

CRS-22

Withdrawn Nominees. Three of President Bush’s district court nominees saw

their nominations withdrawn. One had been nominated in the 107th and 108th

Congresses, another in the 108th and 109th Congresses, and one was nominated only

in the 109th Congress. The elapsed times between their first nomination and the

withdrawal of their final or only nomination were 834 days, 1,067 days, and 79 days,

respectively.88

President Bush’s District Court Nominations

During Particular Congresses

The following are among the key statistical findings concerning President Bush’s

district court nominations during particular Congresses, and the actions and amounts

of time taken on them.

The 107th Congress. President Bush submitted a total of 118 district court

nominations to the Senate during the 107th Congress.89 Twenty of the 118

nominations, however, were resubmissions (renominations). The resubmissions

occurred when 20 district nominations, which had been returned by the Senate to

President Bush at the beginning of the Senate’s August 2001 recess, were resubmitted

as new nominations upon the Senate’s reconvening in September 2001. Hence, 98

individuals were nominated by President Bush to district judgeships during the 107th

Congress.

Of these 98 individuals, 83 were confirmed by the Senate (45 by roll call votes),90

after receiving committee hearings and being reported out of committee favorably.

The 15 district court nominees who failed to be confirmed saw their nominations

returned to the President at the final adjournment of the 107th Congress, with none

having received committee hearings or committee votes. (All 15, however, were

renominated by President Bush in the 108th Congress, with 12 of the 15 confirmed in

that Congress, one withdrawn by the President in that Congress,91 and two confirmed

in the 109th Congress.)92

See again, in Appendix 5, nominee Frederick W. Rohlfing III for the District of Hawaii,

834 days between first nomination, on Jan. 23, 2002, in the 107th Congress, and withdrawal

of second nomination, on May 6, 2004, in the 108th Congress; Daniel P. Ryan for Eastern

District of Michigan, 1,067 days between first nomination on Apr. 28, 2003, in the 108th

Congress, and withdrawal of second nomination, on Mar. 30, 2006, in the 109th Congress;

and Jerome A. Holmes, 79 days between nomination on Feb. 14, 2006, and withdrawal on

May 4, 2006.

See Appendix 6.

In all except one of the roll calls, the Senate voted unanimously in favor of confirmation.

The sole roll call in which “nay” votes were cast against a district court nomination was the

67-20 vote, on May 13, 2002, to confirm Paul G. Cassell to the U.S. District Court for the

District of Utah. See Appendix 6.

See, in Appendix 5 the first nomination of Frederick W. Rohlfing III for the District of

Hawaii, in the 107th Congress and his second nomination, and its withdrawal, in the 108th

Congress.

See in Appendix 5 the nominations in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses — and

(continued...)

CRS-23

For district court nominations which received committee hearings, committee

votes, or Senate confirmation votes in the 107th Congress, the average (mean) numbers

of days that elapsed between the date the nomination was received in the Senate and

the aforementioned actions were as follows:

For 81 district nominations receiving committee hearings, an average

of 89 days elapsed between the date a nomination was received in the

Senate and the holding of a hearing;93 the briefest time elapsing for

a district nomination from Senate receipt to committee hearing was

nine days, and the longest time (for three nominations) was 257 days.

For the 83 district nominations receiving committee votes, an average

of 102 days elapsed between Senate receipt and committee vote; the

briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to committee vote was two

days,94 and the longest time (for two nominations) was 258 days.

For the 83 district nominations receiving final Senate votes (all for

confirmation), an average of 127 days elapsed between Senate receipt

and Senate vote; the briefest time elapsing for a district nomination

from Senate receipt to Senate confirmation was 17 days, and the

longest time (for three nominations) was 295 days.

For the 35 district court nominations that were not confirmed, an average of 51

days elapsed between Senate receipt and final action; the briefest time elapsing was

17 days, and the longest time was 301 days.

The 108th Congress. President Bush submitted a total of 96 district court

nominations to the Senate during the 108th Congress.95 The number of individuals

nominated was also 96, as there were no district judge renominations during the

Congress. Of the 96 total, 87 were confirmed (58 by roll call votes), eight saw their

nominations returned at the end of the Congress, and the nomination of one was

(...continued)

ultimate confirmation in the 109th Congress — of James C. Dever III for the Eastern District

of North Carolina and Thomas L. Ludington for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Two other district nominations also received hearings; however, they were not included

in calculating average time between nomination date and hearing because the individuals’

hearings preceded their nomination dates. See, in Appendix 6, the nominations of Reggie

B. Walton for the District of South Carolina and Terry L. Wooten for the District Court for

the District of Columbia on Sept. 4, 2001, which were preceded by hearings on Aug. 22 and

Aug. 27, 2001, respectively.

The nomination which received a committee vote just two days after its receipt by the

Senate was a resubmission of an earlier nomination to the same judgeship. See the Sept. 4,

2001, nomination of Reggie B. Walton to the District Court for the District of Columbia.

A hearing was held on Aug. 22, 2001, in anticipation of Walton’s renomination, paving the

way for a committee vote after Senate receipt of the nomination without the need for a

hearing first. See Appendix 6.

See Appendix 7.

CRS-24

withdrawn.96 In all but three of the 58 roll calls, the Senate voted unanimously in

favor of confirmation.97 All of the 87 nominees who were confirmed received

committee hearings and were reported out of committee favorably, except for one,

whose nomination was reported out of committee without recommendation.98 Of the

nine nominees not confirmed, seven did not receive a hearing, and no committee vote

was taken on two others.99 One of the nine district nominees not confirmed, as already

noted, was withdrawn by the President, and the other eight were returned to the

President at the end of the 108th Congress. Early in the 109th Congress, the President

renominated all of these eight returnees.

For district court nominations in the 108th Congress which received committee

hearings, committee votes, or Senate confirmation votes, Appendix 7 shows that the

average (mean) numbers of days that elapsed between date of nomination and the

aforementioned actions were as follows:100

For the 89 district court nominations receiving hearings during the

108th Congress, an average of 85 days elapsed from Senate receipt of

nomination to committee hearing; the briefest time elapsing from

Senate receipt to committee hearing was (for three nominations) 22

days, and the longest time was 300 days.

For the 87 district nominations receiving committee votes, an average

of 111 days elapsed from Senate receipt to committee vote; the

briefest such time interval (for two district nominations) was 30 days,

and the longest time (for two nominations) was 336 days.

For the 87 district nominations receiving final Senate votes (all for

confirmation), an average of 156 days elapsed between Senate

receipt and Senate vote; the briefest time elapsing for a district court

nomination from Senate receipt to Senate confirmation was 34 days

(for three nominations), and the longest time was 524 days.

See in Appendix 7 the Jan. 7, 2003, nomination of Frederick W. Rohlfing III to the U.S.

District Court for the District of Hawaii, which was withdrawn by the President on May 6,

2004.

In two of the three other roll calls votes, only one “nay” vote was cast against

confirmation. However, in the third roll call that was not unanimously in favor of

confirmation, a substantial number of “nay” votes were cast. See in Appendix 7 the Jan.

29, 2003, nomination of J. Leon Holmes to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District

of Arkansas, which was confirmed by the Senate on July 6, 2004, by a 51-46 vote.

See, in Appendix 7, the Jan. 29, 2003, nomination of J. Leon Holmes to the U.S. District

Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, which the Senate Judiciary Committee, on May

1, 2003, voted 10-9 to report without recommendation.

Two of the nominees not confirmed were nominated relatively late in the Congress, in

September 2004. Although they received committee hearings in November 2004, they were

not reported out of committee in the remaining three weeks of the Congress. See, in

Appendix 7, the Sept. 7, 2004, nomination of Paul A. Crotty to the Southern District of New

York and the Sept. 15, 2004, nomination of J. Michael Seabright to the District of Hawaii.

100

For time interval averages and longest and shortest elapsed times in the confirmation

process for district court nominations in the 108th Congress, see Appendix 7.

CRS-25

For the nine district court nominations that were not confirmed, an average of

415 days elapsed between Senate receipt and final action; the briefest time elapsing

was 84 days, and the longest time was 701 days.

The 109th Congress. President Bush submitted a total of 66 district court

nominations to the Senate during the109th Congress.101 The number of individuals

nominated was also 66, as there were no district judge renominations during the

Congress, although eight of the nominees had been nominated previously in the 108th

Congress. The nominations of 36 of the 66, including seven of the eight resubmissions

from the 108th Congress, were confirmed (eight by roll call);102 two were withdrawn;103

and 28 were returned at the end of the 109th Congress. Fifty of the 66 nominees had

received hearings (48 in the 109th Congress, two in the 108th), and the nominations of

49 had been reported out of committee, all favorably. Of the 28 nominees returned

at the end of the 109th Congress, 14 awaited hearings, one awaited a committee vote,

and 13 awaited Senate floor action.

For district court nominations which received committee hearings, committee

votes, or Senate confirmation votes in the 109th Congress, the average (mean) numbers

of days that elapsed between the date the nomination was received in the Senate and

the aforementioned actions were as follows:104

For the 48 district nominations receiving committee hearings,105 an

average of 105 days elapsed between the date a nomination was

received in the Senate and the holding of a hearing; the briefest time

elapsing from Senate receipt to committee hearing was 17 days, and

the longest time was 442 days.

For the 48 district court nominations receiving committee votes, an

average of 118 days elapsed between Senate receipt and committee

vote; the briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to committee vote

was 31 days, and the longest time was 451 days.

For the 36 district nominations receiving final Senate votes (all for

confirmation), an average of 143 days elapsed between Senate receipt

and Senate vote; the briefest time elapsing from Senate receipt to

Senate confirmation was 56 days, and the longest time was 479 days.

101

See Appendix 8.

102

On all eight roll calls, the Senate voted unanimously in favor of confirmation.

103

See, in Appendix 8, the Feb. 14, 2005, nomination of Daniel P. Ryan (withdrawn on

Mar. 30, 2006), and the Feb. 14, 2006, nomination of Jerome A. Holmes (withdrawn on May

4, 2006).

104

For time interval averages and longest and shortest elapsed times in the confirmation

process for district court nominations in the 109th Congress, see Appendix 8.

105

Excluded from this average were the Feb. 14, 2005, nominations of J. Michael Seabright

and Paul A. Crotty. These nominees had received a hearing earlier, in the previous

Congress.

CRS-26

For the 30 district court nominations that were not confirmed, an average of 140

days elapsed between Senate receipt and final Senate action; the briefest time elapsing

was two days, and the longest time was 409 days.

Comparison of President Bush’s Circuit Court

Nominations with His District Court Nominations

Notable differences can be found between President Bush’s circuit court

nomination statistics and those for his district court nominations. Perhaps most

notable, as of the end of the 109th Congress, 75.0% of President Bush’s circuit court

nominees (51 of 68) had received Senate confirmation, compared with 86.9% (206 of

237) of his district court nominees.106 For President Bush’s immediate predecessor

in the White House, President Clinton, the confirmation rate for his circuit court

nominees (71.4%) was also notably less than for his district court nominees (87.2%).

However, such differences in confirmation rates for circuit and district nominees were

either slight or nonexistent for the three Presidents prior to Clinton.107

Also, the Senate has tended to take much longer to act on President Bush’s

circuit court nominees than on his district court nominees. As Table 1, below,

shows, the mean number of days elapsing from first nomination to confirmation for

circuit nominees, 366 days, was more than twice as much as the corresponding time

interval of 171 days for district nominees. Also, the median number of days, from

first nomination to confirmation, was 216 days for circuit nominees, 62% longer than

the corresponding time interval, of 134 days, for district nominees. For circuit

nominees returned to the President or withdrawn, the mean interval of 710 days

between date of first nomination and date of disposition of most recent nomination (as

of the end of the 109th Congress), was nearly four times the corresponding mean

interval of 184 days for district nominees; the median number of days for this time

interval for circuit nominees was 407, almost three times higher than the

corresponding interval of 149 days for district nominees.

Table 1. Mean and Median Number of Days Elapsed from First

Nomination to Disposition of Last Nomination for President

George W. Bush’s Nominees to U.S. Circuit or District Court

Judgeships (January 20, 2001 - December 9, 2006)

Courts to which

nominated

Number of days elapsed

from first nomination to ...

Confirmation

Mean

Circuit (N=68)

District (N=237)

366

Other final

disposition a

(N=51)

710 (N=17)

171 (N=206)

184 (N=31)

106

These numbers and percentages are derived from the circuit and district nominee lists

for President Bush in Appendices 1 and 5, respectively.

107

See Table 3 and related discussion later in this report, concerning comparative judicial

nominations statistics for the five most recent Presidents.

CRS-27

Median

Circuit (N=68)

216

District (N=237)

(N=51)

407 (N=17)

134 (N=206)

149 (N=31)

Legend: N = Number of nominees.

Sources: Appendices 1 and 5 at end of this report.

a. The most recent nominations for these nominees were either withdrawn by the President or returned

to the President.

Another indicator that President Bush’s circuit court nominees have tended to

spend more time in the confirmation process than have his district court nominees is

the number of Congresses in which they have been nominated. Table 2, below,

shows that roughly 30% of the persons President Bush nominated to circuit judgeships

through the end of the 109th Congress, were nominated in two or more Congresses,108

whereas fewer than 10% of the persons he nominated to district judgeships were

nominated in more than one Congress.109 As these percentages suggest, President

Bush’s usual practice, when his judicial nominees failed to receive Senate

confirmation in one Congress, was to renominate them in the next Congress.

Table 2. Number of Congresses in Which Persons Were

Nominated by President George W. Bush to U.S. Circuit or

District Court Judgeships (January 20, 2001 - December 9, 2006)

Courts to

which

nominated

Total number of

persons

nominated

Number of Congresses in which nominated

One

Two

Three

Circuit

68 (100%)

48 (70.6%)

14 (20.6%)

6 (8.8%)

District

237 (100%)

216 (91.1%)

19 (8.0%)

2 (0.8%)

Circuit and

District

combined

305 (100%)

264 (86.6 %)

33 (10.8%)

8 (2.6%)

Sources: Appendices 1-8 at end of this report.

Comparison of President Bush’s Circuit and District

Nomination Statistics with Those of Other Recent Presidents

The following paragraphs compare selected nominations statistics for the

presidency of George W. Bush, during the 107th-109th Congresses, with corresponding

statistics for the four previous Presidents. The statistics for President Bush are derived

from the tables presented at the end of this report, whereas corresponding statistics for

108

Specifically, 20.6% were nominated in two Congresses, and 8.8% were nominated in

three Congresses.

109

Specifically, 8.0% were nominated in two Congresses, and 0.9% were nominated in

three Congresses.

CRS-28

the four previous Presidents have been taken from an earlier CRS report.110 These

comparative statistics should be interpreted with caution, as they represent the

complete presidencies of President George W. Bush’s predecessors, but only the first

three Congresses of the presidency of George W. Bush. Final confirmation

percentages and time elapsed for the current President could change considerably over

the next two years.

Number of Nominees, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed.

Table 3 provides, for each of the five most recent Presidents, the following judicial

nomination statistics:111

the total number of persons nominated to circuit and district court

judgeships;

the number of persons nominated to these judgeships per year;

the total number of persons who were confirmed;

the number of persons who were confirmed per year; and

the percentage of the total number nominated who were confirmed.

The cells in the table, it should be noted, account only for the number of

individuals who were nominees, and do not count “re-submitted” nominations made

when individuals were renominated to the same judgeship during a particular

presidency.

Circuit Court Nominees. Table 3 shows that, through the 109th Congress,

the total number of persons nominated by President George W. Bush to be circuit

judges (68) was less than the number nominated by Presidents Ronald Reagan in eight

years (94), William J. Clinton in eight years (91), and more than the number of

nominees of Jimmy Carter in four years (61), and his father, George H. W. Bush, in

four years (53).112 The number of persons nominated by President Bush per year to

be circuit judges (11.3), was lowest among the five Presidents, although only slightly

110

See CRS Report RL31635, Judicial Nomination Statistics: U.S. District and Circuit

Courts, 1977-2003, by Denis Steven Rutkus and Mitchel A. Sollenberger. This report

provided a comparative look — from presidency to presidency, from Congress to Congress,

and from one congressional session to another — at, among other things, the number of

district and circuit court nominations submitted to the Senate, the number and percentage

receiving committee and Senate action, and the average time taken to hold hearings, conduct

committee votes, and conduct Senate votes on the nominations. CRS Report RL31635,

however, did not compile one kind of judicial nomination statistic contained in the current

report on George W. Bush’s lower court nominations — namely, the number of days which

elapsed between the first nominations of a President’s circuit and district court nominees

and the final disposition of their last nomination.

111

Table 3 is an updated and expanded version of Table 2(b) in the previously noted CRS

Report RL31635.

112

Presidents Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton, it should be noted, were

presented with additional opportunities to make circuit court nominations, over and above

those created by vacancies of existing judgeships, when Congress passed legislation in 1978,

1984, and 1990 creating, respectively, 34, 24, and 11 new circuit judgeships. By contrast,

thus far in George W. Bush’s presidency, no legislation has been enacted creating new

circuit judgeships.

CRS-29

lower than the corresponding numbers for Presidents Clinton (11.4) and Reagan

(11.8).113

The total number of persons nominated by George W. Bush who were confirmed

(51) was less than the corresponding confirmation numbers for Presidents Reagan

(83), Clinton (65) and Carter (56), but more than for George H. W. Bush (42). The

per year number of confirmed circuit nominees for the current President Bush (8.5)

was slightly above the corresponding number for President Clinton (8.1) and less than

those for Presidents Carter (14), George H. W. Bush (10.5), and Reagan (10.4).

Over the course of four successive presidencies, Table 3 reveals, the Senate

confirmation percentage for a President’s circuit court nominees declined — from

91.8% for Jimmy Carter, 88.3% for Ronald Reagan, and 79.2% for George H. W.

Bush, to 71.4% for William J. Clinton. Through the 109th Congress, however, the

presidency of George W. Bush had reversed that downward confirmation trend

somewhat, with a 75.0% confirmation rate for the President’s circuit nominees.

District Court Nominees. Through the end of the 109th Congress, Table 3

shows, the total number of President George W. Bush’s district court nominees (237)

was the median (middle value) among those for the five most recent Presidents:

President Clinton had the most district nominees (352), followed by Presidents

Reagan (309), the current President Bush (237), Carter (224), and George H. W. Bush

(189).114 The per year number of persons nominated by the current President Bush

to be district judges (39.5) was second-lowest among the five Presidents, just above

the corresponding number for President Reagan (38.6), and below the numbers for

Presidents Carter (56), George H. W. Bush (47.3), and Clinton (44).

Table 3. U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominees of Five Most

Recent Presidents (January 20, 1977 - December 9, 2006): Total

and Per Year Number of Nominees, Total and Per Year Number

Confirmed, and Percent of Total Confirmed

Circuit Court

Nominees

President

(Congresses, years)

Total

Jimmy Carter

(95th to 96th,

1977-1980)

Per

year

District Court

Nominees a

Total

Per

year

Circuit and District

Combined

Total

Per

year

15.3

224 b

285

71.3

206

51.5

262

65.5

113

President Carter nominated the most circuit nominees per year (15.3), and George H. W.

Bush the second-most (13.3).

114

Presidents Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton were presented with

additional opportunities to make district court nominations, over and above those created

by vacancies of existing judgeships, when Congress passed legislation in 1978, 1984, and

1990 authorizing, respectively, 117, 63, and 86 new district judgeships. By contrast, during

George W. Bush’s presidency, through the end of the 109th Congress, relatively few new

district judgeships, 20, had been authorized, in one piece of legislation enacted in 2002 (P.L.

107-273, 116 Stat. 1758).

CRS-30

Circuit Court

Nominees

President

(Congresses, years)

Ronald Reagan

(97th to 100th,

1981-1988)

George H. W. Bush

(101st to 102nd,

1989-1992)

William J. Clinton

(103rd to 106th,

1993-2000)

George W. Bush

(107th to 109th,

2001-2006)

District Court

Nominees a

Total

Per

year

91.8%

—

92.0%

—

91.9%

11.8

309

38.6

403

50.4

10.4

292

36.5

375

46.9

88.3%

—

94.5%

—

93.1%

13.3

189

47.3

242

60.5

10.5

150

37.5

192

79.2%

—

79.4%

—

79.3%

—

11.4

352

443

55.4

8.1

307

38.4

372

46.5

71.4%

—

87.2%

84.0%

—

11.3

237

39.5

305

50.8

8.5

206

34.3

257

42.8

75.0%

—

86.9%

—

84.3%

—

Total

Per

year

Circuit and District

Combined

Total

Per

year

Note: The cells in this table account only for the number of individuals who were nominees to U.S.

circuit and district court judgeships during each of the five most recent presidential administrations.

The cells do not count “re-submitted” nominations made when individuals were renominated to the

same judgeship during a particular presidency.

Legend: N=number of persons nominated by the President; C=number confirmed; %=percent

confirmed.

a. Includes nominees to the territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern

Mariana Islands.

b. Includes one district court nominee whose nomination was submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8

1981, at the start of the 97th Congress, and withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan. 21, 1981.

The number of persons nominated by George W. Bush who were confirmed

(206) was less than the corresponding confirmation numbers for Presidents Clinton

(307), Reagan (292), but the same as Carter (206), and more than for George H. W.

Bush (150). The per year number of confirmed district nominees for the current

President Bush (34.3) was lowest among those of the five Presidents, below the

corresponding numbers for Presidents Reagan (36.5), George H. W. Bush (37.5), and

Clinton (38.4), with Jimmy Carter having the highest number (51.5).

Table 3 also shows that George W. Bush’s confirmation percentage of 86.9% for

district court nominees through the end of the 109th Congress was the second lowest

for the five Presidents. Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and William J. Clinton had

higher confirmation percentages for their district court nominees (94.5%, 92.0%, and

87.2%, respectively), whereas George H. W. Bush had a lower confirmation

percentage (79.4%).

CRS-31

Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number of Days from

Nomination to Confirmation. Figure 1, below, shows the average number of

days that elapsed for circuit court nominations, from nomination date to confirmation,

during each Congress from the 95th (starting in January 1977) through the 109th

(which adjourned for last time on December 9, 2006). These Congresses spanned the

years of the administrations of the five most recent Presidents, from Jimmy Carter to

George W. Bush. Each bar in Figure 1 indicates the average number of elapsed days

from nomination date to confirmation for a specified Congress, and under each bar is

the name of the President whose presidency coincided in time with that Congress.

Note: The averages shown in Figure 1 are those only for circuit court

nominations which ultimately were confirmed in a particular Congress. Excluded

from the calculation of averages were the pendency times in a Congress for

nominations that ultimately were not confirmed (i.e., nominations withdrawn by the

President or returned to the President at some point in the Congress, with most returns

occurring at a Congress’s final adjournment). Calculations of time averages for all

nominations in a Congress, from nomination date to final disposition (including not

only nominations confirmed, but also those withdrawn or returned) would, it is

acknowledged, produce higher average times, in cases where unconfirmed

nominations were pending for longer times than the average pendency times for

confirmed nominations.115

Figure 1. U.S. Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number of Days

from Nomination to Confirmation, 95th Congress to 109th Congress

(January 20, 1977 - December 9, 2006)

250

200

150

100

115

95th 96th

97th 98th 99th 100th

101st 102nd

103rd 104th 105th 106th

107th108th109th

See Table 8 in CRS Report RL31635, Judicial Nomination Statistics: U.S. District and

Circuit Courts, 1977-2003. This table presents, by Congress (from the 95th through the 1st

session of the 108th) the average number of days elapsing from nomination date to final

action for confirmed nominations, unconfirmed nominations, and confirmed and

unconfirmed nominations combined. The table shows that, from the 100th to the 108th

Congress, the average elapsed time from nomination to final action in a Congress, for circuit

as well as district nominations, was usually, but not always, higher for unconfirmed

nominations than it was for confirmed nominations.

CRS-32

Figure 1 shows, for the circuit nominations of each of the first four Presidents

since January 1977 (Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton), a consistent

pattern — namely, that the lowest average number of days from nomination to

confirmation was recorded in the first Congress during the presidency, and the highest

corresponding average was recorded in the last Congress during the presidency.

Among the first four Presidents, the most dramatic proportional increase within this

pattern was the almost four-fold increase in average number of days from nomination

to confirmation during the Reagan presidency, with a 34-day average in the 97th

Congress (the first Congress during that presidency) to a 119-day average in the 100th

Congress (the last Congress during that presidency). During the years of the first four

presidencies, the highest average number of days from nomination to confirmation,

227 days, was recorded in the 106th Congress, the last Congress during the Clinton

presidency — an average more than twice as long as the 103-day average in the 103rd

Congress, the first Congress during that presidency.

Figure 1 reveals that, thus far, the presidency of the current White House

occupant, George W. Bush, has seen a reversal of the pattern just described. For

President Bush’s circuit court nominations, the lowest average number of days

elapsing from nomination to confirmation, 125 days, was recorded not in the first

Congress during his presidency (the 107th), but in the 109th Congress. Thus far in the

Bush presidency, the highest average number of days elapsing from nomination to

confirmation, 210 days, was recorded in the first Congress during his presidency, the

107th Congress.

Figure 1 also shows that during every Congress from the 102nd to the 109th, the

average nomination-to-confirmation time interval for circuit court nominations has

been more than 100 days. Well above this 100-plus average was the 210-day average

for George W. Bush’s circuit court nominations during the 107th Congress, the first

Congress during his presidency. This average, however, can be seen as roughly at the

same level as the corresponding time averages for William J. Clinton’s circuit court

nominations during the 105th and 106th Congresses (212 days and 227 days

respectively). The average elapsed time of 125 days between nomination and

confirmation for George W. Bush’s circuit nominations in the 109th Congress can be

seen as being in the same approximate range as the corresponding averages for

President Ronald Reagan’s circuit nominations in the 100th Congress (119 days),

George H. W. Bush’s circuit nominations in the 102nd Congress (108 days), and

President Clinton’s circuit nominations in the 103rd and 104th Congresses (103 and 124

days respectively).

District Court Nominations: Average Number of Days from

Nomination to Confirmation. Figure 2, below, like the preceding Figure 1 for

circuit nominations, shows the average number of days that elapsed for district court

nominations, from nomination date to confirmation, during each Congress from the

95th Congress to the 109th Congress. Each bar in Figure 2 indicates the average

number of elapsed days from nomination date to confirmation for a specified

Congress, and under each bar is the name of the President whose presidency coincided

in time with that Congress.

Note: The averages shown in Figure 2 are those only for district court

nominations which ultimately were confirmed in a particular Congress. Excluded

from the calculation of averages were the pendency times in a Congress for

CRS-33

nominations that ultimately were not confirmed, but were withdrawn by the President

or returned to the President at some point in the Congress.

Figure 2. U.S. District Court Nominations: Average Number of Days

from Nomination to Confirmation, 95th Congress to 109th Congress

(January 20, 1977 - December 9, 2006)

Figure 2 shows, among other things, that from the 95th Congress (during the first

two years of the Carter presidency) through the 105th Congress (during the fifth and

sixth years of the Clinton presidency), the average number of elapsed days from

nomination to confirmation for district court nominations per Congress increased

significantly — from a 40-day average in the 95th Congress, to a 165-day average in

the 105th. This overall pattern of increase, however, was marked by drops in the

nomination-to-confirmation time average during the first two years of a presidency

(i.e., with the average dropping from a significantly higher average recorded in the last

two years of the previous presidency), only to be followed by increases in the average

during the subsequent Congress or Congresses of the successor presidency.

The average nomination-to-confirmation time intervals for George W. Bush’s

district court nominations, during the three Congresses coinciding with his presidency,

have all been below the peak average of 165 days, recorded for President Clinton’s

district nominees in the 105th Congress. Relatively close to that peak, however, was

the 156-day average interval recorded for President Bush’s confirmed district

nominees in the 108th Congress and the 143-day average interval recorded for

confirmed district court nominees in the 109th Congress.

Comparison of time averages in Figure 2 with those in Figure 1 also reveals that

in nine of the 15 Congresses in the 1977-2006 time frame, the average time intervals

between nomination and confirmation were less for district than for circuit court

nominations.116 For instance, the nomination-to-confirmation average interval for

William J. Clinton’s district nominations in the 106th Congress was 133 days,

compared with 227 days for his circuit nominations in the same Congress; likewise,

116

In one of the 15 Congresses, the 96th, the average time interval between nomination and

confirmation was the same for circuit and district court nominations — 79 days.

CRS-34

the average interval for George W. Bush’s district nominations in the 107th Congress

was 127 days, compared with 210 days for his circuit nominations in the same

Congress. This, however, was not the pattern for the two most recent Congresses. In

the 108th Congress the average elapsed time between nomination and confirmation for

George W. Bush’s district nominations (156 days) was higher than for his circuit

nominations (140 days), as it was, again, in the 109th Congress (for district court

nominations, 143 days; for circuit nominations, 110 days).

It should be emphasized, as a caveat, that Figures 1 and 2, in accounting only for

nominations confirmed within a Congress, have certain limitations. The figures focus

on the elapsed times of nominations, rather than on nominees, and the time which

elapsed from their first nomination to confirmation of their most recent nomination.

Focusing only on nominations, rather than persons nominated, underestimates how

long individuals awaited confirmation. This is particularly true for courts of appeals

nominees, whose nominations have been returned at a greater rate than district court

nominees under President George W. Bush. Further, failing to account for nominees

who never were confirmed may also understate the average time in pendency for

judicial nominations.

To provide a clearer comparative snapshot, by presidency, of the average time

pending for all nominees, Figures 3 and 4 follow. Over the five most recent

presidencies, the two figures provide, for circuit and district court nominees,

respectively, the average elapsed time from their first nomination to final disposition

of their last nomination, separating confirmed and unconfirmed nominees.

CRS-35

Circuit Court Nominees: Average Number of Days from Nomination

to Final Action. Figure 3, below, shows by President (from Jimmy Carter to

George W. Bush) the average number of days elapsed from date of first nomination

to final action for circuit nominees confirmed, as well as for those not confirmed.117

Figure 3. Average Time to Disposition, Confirmed and Unconfirmed

Nominees to the U.S. Courts of Appeals, by President (January 20,

1977 - December 9, 2006)

800

710

Average Number of Days

700

600

500

439

366

400

319

300

257

249

195

200

104

100

Carter

Reagan

G.H.W. Bush

Clinton

G.W. Bush

President

Confirmed Nominees

Unconfirmed Nominees

Figure 3 demonstrates that the average time to confirmation for circuit court

nominees, after being almost the same for the circuit nominees of Presidents Carter

and Reagan, has since risen steadily. The average elapsed time between first

nomination and confirmation was 69 days for Carter circuit nominees and 68 days for

Reagan nominees. Subsequently, however, with each succeeding presidency, this

time average increased significantly. President George H. W. Bush’s confirmed

nominees to the circuit courts on average waited 104 days to be confirmed (53%

longer than President Reagan’s confirmed nominees), President Clinton’s confirmed

circuit nominees on average waited 249 days (139% longer than George H.W. Bush’s

nominees), and George W. Bush’s circuit court nominees waited, on average, 366

days to be confirmed (47% longer than President Clinton’s nominees). When using

the Reagan and current Bush presidencies as points of reference, Figure 3 shows,

George W. Bush’s confirmed circuit court nominees have taken, on average, more

than five times as long as President Reagan’s circuit nominees to be confirmed (366

versus 68 days).

117

The numbers shown in Figure 3 were calculated from a CRS nominations database

derived in large part from data available in the Presidential Nominations database in the

Legislative Information System of the U.S. Congress (LIS), available at

[http://www.congress.gov/nomis/search.html]. Data for the 95th and 96th Congresses were

collected from the Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate.

CRS-36

For circuit court nominees not confirmed, Figure 3 reveals that the average

elapsed time between first nomination and final disposition of last nomination has, by

presidency, also risen steadily, since the presidency of Jimmy Carter. Specifically,

the average elapsed times for unconfirmed circuit court nominees between first

nomination and final disposition of their last nomination was as follows: for nominees

of President Carter, 195 days; nominees of President Reagan, 257 days; nominees of

President George H.W. Bush, 319 days; nominees of President Clinton, 439 days; and

nominees of President George W. Bush, 710 days — three and a half times longer

than the corresponding elapsed time average of 195 days for President Carter’s

unconfirmed circuit court nominees.

The preceding discussion, it should be noted, compares time averages for circuit

nominees of four completed presidencies (Carter through Clinton) with those of a

presidency (George W. Bush’s) which is still in progress. It is, of course, unclear

to what extent the time averages for President Bush’s circuit nominees, for his

presidency after two completed terms, will be affected by Senate consideration of his

nominations in the 110th Congress.

District Court Nominees: Average Number of Days from Nomination

to Final Action. Figure 4, below, shows, by President (from Jimmy Carter to

George W. Bush) the average number of days elapsed from date of first nomination

to final action for district court nominees confirmed, as well as for those not

confirmed.118

Figure 4 demonstrates that the average time to confirmation, after being 70 days

both for the district court nominees of President Carter and of President Reagan, rose

steadily during the next three presidencies.

President George H. W. Bush’s

confirmed nominees to the district courts on average waited 107 days to be confirmed

(52.9% longer than Reagan and Carter district nominees), President Clinton’s

confirmed district nominees on average waited 133 days to be confirmed (24.3%

longer than George H.W. Bush’s nominees), and George W. Bush’s district court

nominees waited 171 days (28.6% longer than Clinton nominees).

Viewed from the perspective of the entire 1977-2006 period in question, George

W. Bush’s district court nominees have taken, on average, almost two and a half times

as long as the district nominees of Presidents Carter and Reagan to be confirmed (171

days for Bush versus 70 days for Carter and Reagan nominees). The magnitude of this

increase, however, was not as great as the above-discussed 500+% increase in average

time taken for George W. Bush’s circuit court nominees to be confirmed (366 days)

over the average confirmation time taken by President Reagan’s circuit nominees (68

days). In other words, over the course of the last four presidencies (Reagan through

George W. Bush) there has been a steady rise in the average times taken to confirm

118

The numbers shown in Figure 4, as for Figure 3 above, were calculated from a CRS

nominations database derived in large part from data available in the Presidential

Nominations database in the Legislative Information System of the U.S. Congress (LIS),

available at [http://www.congress.gov/nomis/search.html]. Data for the 95th and 96th

Congresses were collected from the Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate.

CRS-37

district as well as circuit court nominees; however, circuit nominees have experienced

a higher rate of increase in their average confirmation time than have district

nominees, ultimately resulting in an average confirmation time during the presidency

of George W. Bush (366 days) more than twice as long as the average confirmation

time for district court nominees (171 days).

For district court nominees not confirmed, Figure 4 shows, there has not been

a steady increase, by presidency, in the average elapsed time between first nomination

and final disposition of last nomination. Rather, the average elapsed time stayed at

about the same level over the course of the Carter, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush

presidencies, increased dramatically, by more than 100%, with the Clinton presidency,

and then, for the first six years of the presidency of George W. Bush, fell back to

about the same level as the average elapsed times of the Carter, Reagan, and George

H.W. Bush presidencies. Specifically, the average elapsed times for unconfirmed

district court nominees between first nomination and final disposition of their last

nomination was as follows: for Carter nominees, 183 days; Reagan nominees, 165

days; nominees of George H.W. Bush, 174 days; Clinton nominees, 400 days; and

nominees of George W. Bush, 184 days.

Figure 4. Average Time to Disposition, Confirmed and Unconfirmed

Nominees to the U.S. District Courts, by President (January 20, 1977

- December 9, 2006)

450

400

Average Number of Days

350

300

250

183

200

174

165

171

184

133

150

107

100

Carter

Reagan

G.H.W. Bush

Clinton

G.W. Bush

President

Confirmed Nominees

Unconfirmed Nominees

The preceding discussion, it is useful to remember, compares time averages for

the district court nominees of four completed presidencies (Carter through Clinton)

with those of a presidency (George W. Bush’s) which is still in progress. For the

current Bush presidency, the nominations of four individuals in the last month of the

109th Congress, all of whom were returned by the Senate and renominated in the 110th

Congress, had a downward effect on the average time in pendency for unconfirmed

CRS-38

nominees (184 days).119 It is, of course, unclear to what extent the time averages for

President Bush’s district nominees, for his presidency after two completed terms, will

be affected by Senate consideration of his nominations in the 110th Congress.

119

The four nominations (and districts) were of James E. Rogan (Central California) and

Benjamin H. Settle (Western Washington) on Nov. 15, 2006; Frederick J. Kapala (Northern

Illinois) on Dec. 5, 2006; and Thomas A. Farr (Eastern North Carolina) on Dec. 7, 2006.

All of these nominations were returned on Dec. 9, 2006, and resubmitted to the 110th

Congress on Jan. 9, 2007. The lengths of pendency for each nominee, in the 109th Congress,

as of Dec. 9, 2006, were 24, 24, four, and two days, respectively. See Appendix 8.

Whether these nominees are confirmed or not in the 110th Congress, the overall time

between their first nomination in the 109th Congress and final disposition of their last

nomination in the 110th Congress can be expected to significantly exceed the pendency

lengths of 24, 24, four, and two days listed in Appendix 8.

CRS-39

Appendix 1: President George W. Bush’s Nominees to the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals,

107th-109th Congresses (January 20, 2001-December 9, 2006)

Nomination

Hearinga

Committee

Actionb

Final Action

04/28/03

01/20/04

04/11/03

02/12/04

10/28/03

—

09/03/03

04/08/04

—

09/25/03

04/29/04

12/09/03

12/08/04

9/29/03

6/24/04

Days

Elapsed,

Initial

Nomination

Disposition

to Disposition

of Most

Recent

Nomination

Returned

590

Returned

Confirmed

171

Confirmed

133

05/09/01

—

08/03/01

Returned

09/04/01

01/07/03

02/14/05

09/05/06

11/15/06

07/25/03

02/14/05

05/22/02

01/07/03

02/12/03

01/25/06

—

03/03/05

—

10/22/03

—

02/05/03

05/07/03

03/14/06

—

06/16/05

—

11/06/03

04/21/05

—

02/27/03

05/08/03

03/30/06

11/20/02

12/08/04

08/03/06

09/29/06

12/09/06

12/08/04

06/08/05

11/20/02

03/13/03

05/22/03

04/04/06

Returned

Confirmed

Returned

Confirmed

Date

Name of Nominee

(Nominees Not Confirmed

In Italics)

State

Circuit

Congress

Allen, Claude A.

Fourth

108th

Bea, Carlos T.

Benton, William D.

Ninth

Eighth

108th

107th

Boyle, Terrence W.

Fourth

108th

109th

Brown, Janice R.

D.C.

Bybee, Jay S.

Ninth

Callahan, Consuelo M.

Chagares, Michael A.

Ninth

Third

108th

109th

107th

108th

109th

2,040

684

295

CRS-40

Date

Name of Nominee

(Nominees Not Confirmed

In Italics)

State

Circuit

Congress

Chertoff, Michael

Third

108th

Clement, Edith B.

Fifth

107th

Clifton, Richard R.

Ninth

107th

Colloton, Steven M.

Eighth

108th

Cook, Deborah L.

Sixth

Duncan, Allyson K.

Fourth

Estrada, Miguel A.

Fisher, D. Michael

Gibbons, Julia S.

Gorsuch, Neil M.

Gregory, Roger L.

Third

Sixth

Tenth

Fourth

Griffin, Richard A.

Sixth

107th

108th

107th

108th

107th

109th

107th

108th

109th

Nomination

Hearinga

Committee

Actionb

Final Action

03/05/03

05/09/01

09/04/01

06/22/01

09/04/01

02/12/03

05/09/01

09/04/01

01/07/03

04/28/03

05/09/01

09/04/01

01/07/03

05/01/03

10/09/01

05/10/06

05/09/01

06/26/02

01/07/03

02/14/05

05/7/03

—

10/04/01

—

05/09/02

07/22/03

—

01/29/03

06/25/03

—

09/26/02

—

10/15/03

04/25/02

06/21/06

07/11/01

—

06/16/04

—

05/22/03

—

11/01/01

—

05/16/02

07/31/03

—

02/27/03

07/10/03

—

01/30/03

11/06/03

05/02/02

07/13/06

07/19/01

—

07/20/04

05/26/05

06/09/03

08/03/01

11/13/01

08/03/01

07/18/02

09/04/03

08/03/01

11/20/02

05/05/03

07/17/03

08/03/01

11/20/02

09/04/03

12/09/03

07/29/02

07/20/06

07/20/01

11/20/02

12/08/04

06/09/05

Days

Elapsed,

Initial

Nomination

Disposition

to Disposition

of Most

Recent

Nomination

Confirmed

Returned

188

Confirmed

Returned

391

Confirmed

204

Returned

726

Confirmed

Returned

848

Withdrawn

Confirmed

222

Confirmed

293

Confirmed

Returned

1,079

Confirmed

CRS-41

Date

Name of Nominee

(Nominees Not Confirmed

In Italics)

State

Circuit

Congress

Griffith, Thomas B.

Gruender, Raymond W.

Hall, Peter W.

Hardiman, Thomas M. c

Eighth

Second

Third

108th

109th

108th

109th

Hartz, Harris L.

Tenth

107th

108th

Haynes, William J., II

Fourth

Holmes, Jerome A.

Tenth

109th

Howard, Jeffrey R.

First

107th

Ikuta, Sandra S.

Jordan, Kent A.

Ninth

Third

109th

108th

Kavanaugh, Brett M.

Keisler, Peter D. c

109th

Nomination

Hearinga

Committee

Actionb

Final Action

05/10/04

02/14/05

09/29/03

12/09/03

09/13/06

06/21/01

09/04/01

09/29/03

02/14/05

09/05/06

11/15/06

05/04/06

08/02/01

09/04/01

02/08/06

06/28/06

07/25/03

02/14/05

01/25/06

06/29/06

11/15/06

11/16/04

03/08/05

01/22/04

03/10/04

11/14/06

—

10/25/01

11/19/03

07/11/06

—

06/15/06

—

04/11/02

05/02/06

09/06/06

04/27/04

—

05/09/06

08/01/06

—

04/14/05

03/04/04

04/01/04

—

11/29/01

03/11/04

—

07/13/06

—

04/18/02

05/25/06

09/26/06

—

05/11/06

—

12/08/04

06/14/05

05/20/04

06/24/04

12/09/06

08/03/01

12/06/01

12/08/04

08/03/06

09/29/06

12/09/06

07/25/06

08/03/01

04/23/02

06/19/06

12/08/06

12/08/04

12/21/05

05/26/06

09/29/06

12/09/06

Days

Elapsed,

Initial

Nomination

Disposition

to Disposition

of Most

Recent

Nomination

Returned

400

Confirmed

234

Confirmed

198

Returned

168

Confirmed

Returned

1,167

Returned

Confirmed

Returned

264

Confirmed

131

Confirmed

163

Returned

1,036

Confirmed

Returned

163

Returned

CRS-42

Date

Name of Nominee

(Nominees Not Confirmed

In Italics)

State

Circuit

Kethledge, Raymond M.

Sixth

Kuhl, Carolyn B.

Ninth

Congress

109th

107th

Livingston, Debra A.c

Second

108th

109th

McConnell, Michael W.

Tenth

107th

McKeague, David W.

Sixth

107th

108th

109th

Melloy, Michael J.

Eighth

107th

Moore, Kimberly A.

Murphy, Stephen J., II

Federal

Sixth

109th

108th

Myers, William G., III

Ninth

Neilson, Susan B.

Sixth

109th

107th

108th

109th

Nomination

Hearinga

Committee

Actionb

Final Action

06/28/06

06/22/01

09/04/01

01/07/03

06/28/06

05/09/01

09/04/01

11/08/01

01/07/03

02/14/05

07/10/01

09/04/01

05/18/06

06/28/06

05/15/03

02/14/05

09/05/06

11/15/06

11/08/01

01/07/03

02/14/05

—

04/01/03

—

09/18/02

—

06/16/04

—

01/24/02

06/28/06

—

02/05/04

03/01/05

—

09/08/04

—

05/08/03

—

11/14/02

—

07/20/04

05/26/05

—

02/07/02

07/27/06

—

04/01/04

03/17/05

—

10/04/04

10/20/05

12/09/06

08/03/01

11/20/02

12/08/04

12/09/06

08/03/01

11/15/02

11/20/02

12/08/04

06/09/05

08/03/01

02/11/02

09/05/06

12/09/06

12/08/04

08/03/06

09/29/06

12/09/06

11/20/02

12/08/04

10/27/05

Days

Elapsed,

Initial

Nomination

Disposition

to Disposition

of Most

Recent

Nomination

Returned

164

Returned

1,265

Returned

164

Returned

555

Confirmed

Returned

1,309

Confirmed

Returned

216

Confirmed

110

Returned

164

Returned

1,304

Returned

1,449

Confirmed

CRS-43

Date

Name of Nominee

(Nominees Not Confirmed

In Italics)

O’Brien, Terrence L.

State

Circuit

Tenth

Congress

107th

Owen, Priscilla R.

Fifth

Parker, Barrington D., Jr.

Second

107th

Payne, James H.

Tenth

109th

108th

109th

107th

Pickering, Charles W., Sr.

Fifth

108th

Prado, Edward C.

Fifth

108th

Prost, Sharon

Federal

107th

Pryor, William H., Jr.

Eleventh

Raggi, Reena

Riley, William J.

Second

Eighth

108th

109th

107th

Nomination

Hearinga

Committee

Actionb

Final Action

08/02/01

09/04/01

05/09/01

09/04/01

01/07/03

02/14/05

05/09/01

09/04/01

09/29/05

05/25/01

09/04/01

01/07/03

02/06/04

02/06/03

05/21/01

09/04/01

04/09/03

03/12/04

02/14/05

05/01/02

05/23/01

—

03/19/02

—

07/23/02

03/13/03

—

09/13/01

—

10/18/01

—

03/27/03

—

08/27/01

06/11/03

—

08/01/02

07/24/01

—

04/11/02

—

09/05/02d

03/27/03

04/21/05

—

10/04/01

—

03/14/02e

10/02/03

—

04/03/03

—

09/06/01

07/23/03

—

05/12/05

09/05/02

08/02/01

08/03/01

04/15/02

08/03/01

11/20/02

12/08/04

05/25/05

08/03/01

10/11/01

03/07/06

08/03/01

11/20/02

12/08/04

05/01/03

08/03/01

09/21/01

12/08/04

06/09/05

09/20/02

08/02/01

Days

Elapsed,

Initial

Nomination

Disposition

to Disposition

of Most

Recent

Nomination

Returned

223

Confirmed

Returned

1,477

Returned

Confirmed

Returned

155

Confirmed

Withdrawn

159

Returned

1,293

Returned

Confirmed

Returned

123

Confirmed

Returned

792

Confirmed

142

Confirmed

CRS-44

Date

Name of Nominee

(Nominees Not Confirmed

In Italics)

Roberts, John G., Jr.

State

Circuit

Congress

107th

108th

107th

108th

109th

Rogers, John M.

Sixth

Saad, Henry W.

Sixth

Shedd, Dennis W.

Fourth

107th

Shepherd, Bobby E.

Smith, D. Brooks

Eighth

Third

109th

107th

Smith, Lavenski R.

Eighth

107th

Smith, Milan D., Jr.

Ninth

109th

Smith, N. Randy c, f

Ninth

109th

Steele, William H.

Eleventh

107th

Sutton, Jeffrey S.

Sixth

107th

108th

Nomination

Hearinga

Committee

Actionb

Final Action

05/09/01

09/04/01

01/07/03

12/19/01

11/08/01

01/07/03

02/14/05

05/09/01

09/04/01

05/18/06

09/10/01

05/22/01

09/04/01

02/14/06

12/16/05

09/05/06

11/15/06

10/09/01

05/09/01

09/04/01

01/07/03

—

01/29/03

06/13/02

—

07/30/03

—

06/27/02

06/28/06

02/26/02

—

05/23/02

04/25/06

03/01/06

—

01/29/03

—

02/27/03

07/11/02

—

06/17/04

—

11/14/02

07/13/06

05/23/02

—

06/27/02

05/04/06

09/21/06

—

02/13/03

08/03/01

11/20/02

05/08/03

11/14/02

11/20/02

12/08/04

03/27/06

08/03/01

11/19/02

07/20/06

07/31/02

08/03/01

07/15/02

05/16/06

08/03/06

09/29/06

12/09/06

11/20/02

08/03/01

11/20/02

04/29/03

Days

Elapsed,

Initial

Nomination

Disposition

to Disposition

of Most

Recent

Nomination

Returned

729

Confirmed

330

Returned

1,600

Withdrawn

Returned

559

Confirmed

324

Returned

419

Confirmed

Returned

358

Returned

407

Returned

720

Confirmed

CRS-45

Date

Name of Nominee

(Nominees Not Confirmed

In Italics)

State

Circuit

Sykes, Diane S.

Seventh

Tymkovich, Timothy M.

Tenth

Congress

108th

107th

Van Antwerpen, Franklin S.

Third

108th

Wallace, Michael B.

Fifth

109th

Wesley, Richard C.

Second

108th

Nomination

Hearinga

Committee

Actionb

Final Action

11/14/03

05/25/01

09/04/01

01/07/03

11/21/03

02/08/06

09/05/06

11/15/06

03/05/03

02/11/04

—

02/12/03

01/28/04

—

09/26/06

—

05/22/03

03/11/04

—

03/06/03

03/04/04

—

06/05/03

06/24/04

08/03/01

11/20/02

04/01/03

05/20/04

08/03/06

09/29/06

12/09/06

06/11/03

Days elapsed, initial nomination to disposition of most recent nomination, confirmed nominees (51 nominees)

Days elapsed, initial nomination to disposition of most recent nomination, nominees not confirmed (17 nominees)

Days

Elapsed,

Initial

Nomination

Disposition

to Disposition

of Most

Recent

Nomination

Confirmed

223

Returned

676

Confirmed

181

Returned

304

Returned

Confirmed

Mean

366.0

216

Medianh

710.4

Mean

407

Medianh

Notes:

a. Hearing date listed is the first date the nomination received a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

b. Unless otherwise noted, date of committee action is the date the motion to report favorably carried.

c. Resubmitted in the 110th Congress on Jan. 9, 2007. As of Jan. 19, 2007, four nominees had been resubmitted in the 110th Congress.

d. On September 5, 2002, motion to report Priscilla Owen favorably failed; a motion to report without recommendation failed, and a motion to report unfavorably also failed. Sen.

Jon Kyl, “Judge Priscilla Owen,” remarks in the Senate, Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 148, pp. S8253-S8255.

e. On March 14, 2002, motion to report Charles Pickering Sr. favorably failed; a motion to report without recommendation failed, and a motion to report unfavorably also failed. Sen.

Trent Lott, “Nomination of Charles Pickering,” remarks in the Senate, Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 148, pp. S1915-S1917.

CRS-46

f. N. Randy Smith’s nomination of Jan. 9, 2007, was withdrawn by President Bush on Jan. 16, 2007, and renominated to a different seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on that

same day.

g. The “Mean” is the sum of the number of elapsed days for all of the nominations in question divided by the number of those nominations.

h. The “Median” is the elapsed time for the nomination that is the “middle case,” with an equal number of the nominations having longer elapsed times than that nomination and an

equal number of nominations having shorter elapsed times. If there are an even number of nominations, the median is the arithmetic mean of the elapsed times for the two

nominations in the middle of the distribution.

CRS - 47

Appendix 2. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals

During the 107th Congress (January 20, 2001-November 20, 2002)

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received

By Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Boyle, Terrence W. d

Fourth

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Clement, Edith B. d

Fifth

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Cook, Deborah L. d

Sixth

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Estrada, Miguel A. d

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Gregory, Roger L. e

Fourth

05/09/01

07/11/01

07/19/01

07/20/01

93-1 vote

McConnell, Michael W. d

Tenth

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Owen, Priscilla R. d

Fifth

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Parker, Barrington D., Jr. d

Second

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Roberts, John G., Jr. d

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

CRS - 48

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received

By Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Shedd, Dennis W. d

Fourth

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Sutton, Jeffrey S. d

Sixth

05/09/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Prost, Sharon d

Federal

05/21/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Smith, Lavenski R. d

Eighth

05/22/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Riley, William J.

Eighth

05/23/01

07/24/01

08/02/01

97-0 vote

Pickering, Charles W., Sr. d

Fifth

05/25/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Tymkovich, Timothy M. d

Tenth

05/25/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Hartz, Harris L. d

Tenth

06/21/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Clifton, Richard R. d

Ninth

06/22/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Kuhl, Carolyn B. d

Ninth

06/22/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

CRS - 49

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received

By Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Melloy, Michael J. d

Eighth

07/10/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Howard, Jeffrey R. d

First

08/02/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

O’Brien, Terrence L. d

Tenth

08/02/01

—

Returned

08/03/01

—

Boyle, Terrence W. e

Fourth

09/04/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

Clement, Edith B. e

Fifth

09/04/01

10/04/01

11/01/01

11/13/01

99-0 vote

Clifton, Richard R. e

Ninth

09/04/01

05/09/02

05/16/02

Cloture

97-1 vote

07/18/02

247

254

317

442

07/18/02

98-0 vote

Cook, Deborah L. e

Sixth

09/04/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

442

Estrada, Miguel A. e

09/04/01

09/26/02

—

Returned

11/20/02

387

—

442

Hartz, Harris L. e

Tenth

09/04/01

10/25/01

11/29/01

12/06/01

99-0 vote

Howard, Jeffrey R. e

First

09/04/01

04/11/02

04/18/02

04/23/02

99-0 vote

219

226

231

CRS - 50

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received

By Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Kuhl, Carolyn B. e

Ninth

09/04/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

442

McConnell, Michael W. e

Tenth

09/04/01

09/18/02

11/14/02

11/15/02

379

436

437

Melloy, Michael J. e

Eighth

09/04/01

01/24/02

02/07/02

02/11/02

91-0 vote

142

156

160

O’Brien, Terrence L. e

Tenth

09/04/01

03/19/02

04/11/02

04/15/02

98-0 vote

196

219

223

Owen, Priscilla R. e

Fifth

09/04/01

07/23/02

Defeated

09/05/02 f

Returned

11/20/02

322

366

442

Parker, Barrington D. e

Second

09/04/01

09/13/01

10/04/01

10/11/01

100-0 vote

Pickering, Charles W., Sr. e

Fifth

09/04/01

10/18/01

Defeated

03/14/02 g

Returned

11/20/02

191

442

02/07/02

Prost, Sharon e

Federal

09/04/01

08/27/01h

09/06/01

09/21/01

97-0 vote

Roberts, John G., Jr. e

09/04/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

442

Shedd, Dennis W. e

Fourth

09/04/01

06/27/02

11/14/02

Cloture

vitiated

11/18/02

296

436

441

11/19/02

55-44 vote

CRS - 51

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

Smith, Lavenski R. e

State

Circuit

Eighth

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received

By Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

09/04/01

05/23/02

06/27/02

Cloture

94-3 vote

07/15/02

261

296

314

Final Action

07/15/02

Sutton, Jeffrey S. e

Sixth

09/04/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

442

Tymkovich, Timothy M. e

Tenth

09/04/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

442

Smith, D. Brooks

Third

09/10/01

02/26/02

05/23/02

07/31/02

64-35 vote

169

255

324

Gibbons, Julia S.

Sixth

10/09/01

04/25/02

05/02/02

Cloture

89-0 vote

07/26/02

198

205

293

07/29/02

95-0 vote

Steele, William H.

Eleventh

10/09/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

407

McKeague, David W.

Sixth

11/08/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

377

Neilson, Susan B.

Sixth

11/08/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

377

CRS - 52

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received

By Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Saad, Henry W.

Sixth

11/08/01

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

377

Rogers, John M.

Sixth

12/19/01

06/13/02

07/11/02

11/14/02

176

204

330

Raggi, Reena

Second

05/01/02

08/01/02

09/05/02

09/20/02

85-0 vote

127

142

Bybee, Jay S.

Ninth

05/22/02

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

182

Griffin, Richard A.

Sixth

06/26/02

—

Returned

11/20/02

—

147

Meanj

176.0k

194.2

210.1

204.1

Medianl

176.0k

204.0

223.0

86.0

Number of days elapsed from date received in Senate:

17 confirmed nominations

35 unconfirmed nominations

Note: The above table does not include nine circuit court nominations submitted by President William J. Clinton, on either Jan. 3, 2001, or Jan. 4. 2001, at the start of the 107th Congress.

(For a list of the nine nominations, see p. 15 of CRS Report 98-510 GOV, Judicial Nominations by President Clinton During the 103rd-106th Congresses, by Denis Steven Rutkus.)

All nine nominations were withdrawn by President Bush on Mar. 19, 2001, although one of the nine nominees, Roger L. Gregory of Virginia, was renominated by President Bush on

May 9, 2001, and confirmed by the Senate on July 20, 2001.

a. The “Committee action” date, unless there is a note indicating otherwise, is the date on which the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to report a nomination favorably to the Senate.

b. A date standing alone is the date of Senate confirmation. A vote tally underneath the date is the roll call vote by which the nomination was confirmed. The absence of a roll call

vote indicates that the nomination was confirmed by voice vote or by unanimous consent. Where final action was not a Senate vote to confirm, the type of final action is specified,

along with the date. “Cloture” indicates that the Senate voted on a motion to close debate (with passage of the motion requiring three-fifths of the Senate, or 60 Members, voting

in favor). “Cloture vitiated” indicates that the Senate by unanimous consent vitiated (undid) a motion to close debate. “Withdrawn” indicates that a nomination was withdrawn

by the President. “Returned” indicates that the Senate returned a nomination to the President (upon a Senate adjournment or recess of more than 30 days).

CRS - 53

c. Where a judicial nomination received more than one day of hearings, the “Days from nomination date to:” “Hearing” is the number of days from the nomination date to the first

hearing date.

d. This was the nominee’s first of two nominations to the judgeship. After the nomination was returned to President Bush on Aug. 3, 2001, the individual was renominated on Sept.

4, 2001.

e. This was the nominee’s second nomination to the judgeship. See the earlier nomination in the 107th Congress.

f. The committee vote to report favorably failed (9-10); the vote to report without recommendation failed (9-10); and the vote to report unfavorably failed (9-10).

g. The committee vote to report favorably failed (9-10); the vote to report without recommendation failed (9-10); and the vote to report unfavorably failed (9-10).

h. On Aug. 27, 2001, during the August recess of the first session of the 107th Congress, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing for Ms. Prost in expectation of her renomination

to the circuit court. An earlier nomination of Ms. Prost had been returned to the President at the beginning of the August recess.

i. The hearing, on Aug. 27, 2001, preceded the nomination date; therefore, no elapsed time between Senate receipt and hearing date has been calculated. See preceding note.

j. The “Mean,” or average, is the sum of the number of elapsed days for all of the nominations in question divided by the number of those nominations. Note: Calculation of the mean

in the “Hearing” column excluded the time that elapsed between the hearing date and Senate receipt of the Sept. 4, 2001, nomination of Sharon Prost, since the hearing date for

that nomination preceded the nomination date. (See two preceding table notes regarding the Prost nomination.)

k. Calculation of this time average excluded the times between hearing date and Senate receipt for the September 2001 nomination of Sharon Prost, since her hearing date preceded

her nomination date. (See preceding table note “i” regarding the Prost nomination.)

l. In each “Median” cell, the number represents (1) the elapsed time for the nomination in the middle of the distribution of all the nominations in question, with an equal number of

the nominations having longer elapsed times than that nomination and an equal number of nominations having shorter elapsed times; or (2) the arithmetic mean of the elapsed times

for the two nominations in the middle of the distribution if there is no one middle nomination.

CRS - 54

Appendix 3. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals

During the 108th Congress (January 7, 2003-December 8, 2004)

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Boyle, Terrence W. d

Fourth

01/07/03

—

Returned

12/08/04 e

—

701

Bybee, Jay S. d

Ninth

01/07/03

02/05/03

02/27/03

03/13/03

74-19 vote

Cook, Deborah L. d

Sixth

01/07/03

01/29/03

02/27/03

05/05/03

66-25 vote

118

Estrada, Miguel A. d

01/07/03

—

01/30/03

Cloture

55-44 vote

03/06/03

—

240

Cloture

55-42 vote

03/13/03

Cloture

55-45 vote

03/18/03

Cloture

55-44 vote

04/02/03

Cloture

52-39 vote

05/05/03

CRS - 55

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Days from Nomination Date To:

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

526

560

701

121

701

Final Action

Cloture

54-43 vote

05/08/03

Cloture

55-43 vote

07/30/03

Withdrawn

09/04/03

Griffin, Richard A. d

Sixth

01/07/03

06/16/04

07/20/04

Cloture

54-44 vote

07/22/04

Returned

12/08/04 e

Kuhl, Carolyn A. d

Ninth

01/07/03

04/01/03

05/08/03

Cloture

vitiated

07/31/03

Cloture

53-43 vote

11/14/03

Returned

12/08/04

CRS - 56

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

McKeague, David W. d

State

Circuit

Sixth

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

01/07/03

06/16/04

07/20/04

Cloture

53-44 vote

07/22/04

526

560

701

Final Action

Returned

12/08/04 e

Neilson, Susan B. d

Sixth

01/07/03

09/08/04

10/04/04

Returned

12/08/04 e

610

636

701

Owen, Priscilla R. d

Fifth

01/07/03

03/13/03

03/27/03

Cloture

52-45 vote

05/01/03

701

Cloture

52-45 vote

05/08/03

Cloture

53-43 vote

07/29/03

Cloture

53-42 vote

11/14/03

Returned

12/08/04 e

CRS - 57

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

Pickering, Charles W., Sr. d

State

Circuit

Fifth

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

01/07/03

—

10/02/03

Cloture

54-43 vote

10/30/03

—

268

701

121

204

527

701

Final Action

Returned

12/08/04

Roberts, John G., Jr. d

Saad, Henry W. d

Sixth

01/07/03

01/29/03

02/27/03

Recommit f

04/30/03

05/08/03

07/30/03

06/17/04

Cloture

52-46 vote

07/22/04

Returned

12/08/04 e

Sutton, Jeffrey S. d

Sixth

01/07/03

01/29/03

02/13/03

04/29/03

52-41 vote

112

Tymkovich, Timothy M. d

Tenth

01/07/03

02/12/03

03/06/03

04/01/03

58-41 vote

Prado, Edward C.

Fifth

02/06/03

03/27/03

04/03/03

05/01/03

97-0 vote

Callahan, Consuelo M.

Ninth

02/12/03

05/07/03

05/08/03

05/22/03

99-0 vote

Colloton, Steven M.

Eighth

02/12/03

07/22/03

07/31/03

09/04/03

94-1 vote

160

169

204

CRS - 58

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Chertoff, Michael

Third

03/05/03

05/07/03

05/22/03

06/09/03

88-1 vote

Wesley, Richard C.

Second

03/05/03

05/22/03

06/05/03

06/11/03

96-0 vote

Pryor, William H., Jr.

Eleventh

04/09/03

06/11/03

07/23/03

Cloture

53-44 vote

07/31/03

105

609

Cloture

51-43 vote

11/06/03

Returned

12/08/04

Bea, Carlos T.

Ninth

04/11/03

09/03/03

09/25/03

09/29/03

86-0 vote

145

167

171

Allen, Claude A.

Fourth

04/28/03

10/28/03

—

Returned

12/09/03

183

—

225

Duncan, Allyson K.

Fourth

04/28/03

06/25/03

07/10/03

07/17/03

93-0 vote

Fisher, D. Michael

Third

05/01/03

10/15/03

11/06/03

12/09/03

167

189

222

Myers, William G., III

Ninth

05/15/03

02/05/04

04/01/04

Cloture

53-44 vote

07/20/04

266

322

573

Returned

12/08/04 e

CRS - 59

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

Brown, Janice R.

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

07/25/03

10/22/03

11/06/03

Cloture

53-43 vote

11/14/03

104

502

Final Action

Returned

12/08/04 e

Kavanaugh, Brett M.

07/25/03

04/27/04

—

Returned

12/08/04 e

277

—

502

Gruender, Raymond W.

Eighth

09/29/03

01/22/04

03/04/04

05/20/04

97-1 vote

115

157

234

Haynes, William J., II

Fourth

09/29/03

11/19/03

03/11/04

Returned

12/08/04 e

164

436

Sykes, Diane S.

Seventh

11/14/03

02/11/04

03/11/04

06/24/04

70-27 vote

118

223

Van Antwerpen, Franklin S.

Third

11/21/03

01/28/04

03/04/04

05/20/04

96-0 vote

104

181

Hall, Peter W.

Second

12/09/03

03/10/04

04/01/04

06/24/04

114

198

Allen, Claude A. g

Fourth

01/20/04

—

Returned

12/08/04

—

323

Pickering, Charles W., Sr. h, i

Fifth

02/06/04

—

Returned

12/08/04

—

306

Benton, William D.

Eighth

02/12/04

04/08/04

04/29/04

06/24/04

133

CRS - 60

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Pryor, William H., Jr. g ,j

Eleventh

03/12/04

—

Returned

12/08/04 e

—

271

Griffith, Thomas B.

05/10/04

11/16/04

—

Returned

12/08/04 e

190

—

212

Mean k

144.8

173.2

140.2

516.2

Median l

84.0

104.5

119.5

573.0

Number of days elapsed from date received in Senate:

18 confirmed nominations

19 unconfirmed nominations

a. The “Committee action” date, unless there is a note indicating otherwise, is the date on which the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to report a nomination favorably to the Senate.

b. A date standing alone is the date of Senate confirmation. A vote tally underneath the date is the roll call vote by which the nomination was confirmed. The absence of a roll call

vote indicates that the nomination was confirmed by voice vote or by unanimous consent. Where final action was not a Senate vote to confirm, the type of final action is specified,

along with the date. “Cloture” indicates that the Senate voted on a motion to close debate (with passage of the motion requiring three-fifths of the Senate, or 60 Members, voting

in favor). “Cloture vitiated” indicates that the Senate by unanimous consent vitiated (undid) a motion to close debate. “Withdrawn” indicates that a nomination was withdrawn

by the President. “Returned” indicates that the Senate returned a nomination to the President (upon a Senate adjournment or recess of more than 30 days).

c. Where a judicial nomination received more than one day of hearings, the “Days from nomination date to:” “Hearing” is the number of days from the nomination date to the first

hearing date.

d. Resubmission; see earlier nomination(s) in 107th Congress.

e. Nominee was renominated in the 109th Congress, on 02/14/2005.

f. Senate by unanimous consent agreed to recommit the nomination to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

g. Resubmission; see earlier nomination in 108th Congress.

h. Resubmission; see three earlier nominations — one in 108th Congress and two in 107th Congress.

i. On 01/16/2004, between the first and second sessions of the 108th Congress, the nominee was appointed to the court by presidential “recess appointment,” an appointment which

expired on 12/08/2004, at the end of the second session of the 108th Congress.

j. On 02/20/2004, during a recess within the second session of the 108th Congress, the nominee was appointed to the court by presidential “recess appointment,”an appointment that

was to expire at the end of the first session of the 109th Congress. However, early in the 109th Congress, on 02/14/2005, he was renominated and then, on 06/09/05, confirmed,

more than six months before his recess appointment would have expired.

k. The “Mean,” or average, is the sum of the number of elapsed days for all of the nominations in question divided by the number of those nominations.

l. In each “Median” cell, the number represents (1) the elapsed time for the nomination in the middle of the distribution of all the nominations in questions, with an equal number of

the nominations having longer elapsed times than that nomination and an equal number of nominations having shorter elapsed times; or (2) the arithmetic mean of the elapsed

times for the two nominations in the middle of the distribution if there is no one middle nomination.

CRS - 61

Appendix 4. President George W. Bush’s Nominations to the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals

During the 109th Congress (January 4, 2005 - December 9, 2006)

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

03/03/05

06/16/05

Returned

08/03/06

122

535

04/21/05

Cloture

65-32 vote

06/07/05

—

114

Boyle, Terrence W. d

Fourth

02/14/05

Brown, Janice R. d

02/14/05

Final Action

06/08/05

56-43 vote

Griffin, Richard A. d

Sixth

02/14/05

Griffith, Thomas B. d

02/14/05

Haynes, William J., II d

Fourth

02/14/05

Kavanaugh, Brett M. d

02/14/05

McKeague, David W. d

Sixth

02/14/05

Myers, William G., III d

Ninth

02/14/05

Neilson, Susan B. d

Sixth

02/14/05

05/26/05

06/09/05

95-0 vote

—

101

115

03/08/05

04/14/05

06/14/05

73-24 vote

120

07/11/06

—

Returned

08/03/06

512

—

535

—

Returned

12/22/05

—

310

05/26/05

06/09/05

96-0 vote

—

101

115

03/17/05

Returned

08/03/06

535

10/20/05

10/27/05

97-0 vote

—

248

255

03/01/05

CRS - 62

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

Owen, Priscilla R. d

State

Circuit

Fifth

Received by

Senate

02/14/05

Hearing

Days from Nomination Date To:

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

04/21/05

Cloture

81-18 vote

05/24/05

—

100

—

115

Final Action

05/25/05

55-43 vote

Pryor, William H., Jr. d

Eleventh

02/14/05

05/12/05

Cloture

67-32 vote

06/08/05

06/09/05

53-45 vote

—

Withdrawn

03/27/06

—

406

—

Withdrawn

03/07/06

—

159

12/16/05

03/01/06

05/04/06

Returned

08/03/06

139

230

Third

01/25/06

03/14/06

03/30/06

04/04/06

98-0 vote

01/25/06

05/09/06

05/11/06

Cloture

67-30 vote

05/26/06

104

106

121

106

131

Saad, Henry W.

Sixth

02/14/05

Payne, James H.

Tenth

09/29/05

Smith, N. Randy

Ninth

Chagares, Michael A.

Kavanaugh, Brett M. f

05/26/06

57-36 vote

Ikuta, Sandra S.

Ninth

02/08/06

05/02/06

05/25/06

06/19/06

81-0 vote

CRS - 63

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Wallace, Michael B.

Fifth

02/08/06

—

Returned

08/03/06

—

176

Smith, Milan D., Jr.

Ninth

02/14/06

04/25/06

05/04/06

05/16/06

93-0 vote

Holmes, Jerome A.

Tenth

05/04/06

06/15/06

07/13/06

07/25/06

67-30 vote

Gorsuch, Neil M.

Tenth

05/10/06

06/21/06

07/13/06

07/20/06

Moore, Kimberly A.

Federal

05/18/06

06/28/06

07/27/06

09/05/06

92-0 vote

110

Shepherd, Bobby E.

Eighth

05/18/06

06/28/06

07/13/06

07/20/06

Jordan, Kent A.

Third

06/28/06

09/06/06

09/26/06

Cloture

93-0 vote

12/08/06

163

12/08/06

91-0 vote

Kethledge, Raymond

Sixth

06/28/06

—

Returned

12/09/06

—

164

Livingston, Debra A. g

Second

06/28/06

—

Returned

12/09/06

—

164

Murphy, Stephen J.

Sixth

06/28/06

—

Returned

12/09/06

—

164

Keisler, Peter D.

06/29/06

08/01/06

—

Returned

09/29/06

—

164

Boyle, Terrence W. f

Fourth

09/05/06

—

Returned

09/29/06

—

CRS - 64

Date

No.

Name of Nominee

State

Circuit

Days from Nomination Date To:

Received by

Senate

Hearing

Committee

Action a

Final

Action B

Hearing C

Committee

Action

Final Action

Haynes, William J., II f

Fourth

09/05/06

—

Returned

09/29/06

—

Myers, William G., III f

Ninth

09/05/06

—

Returned

09/29/06

—

Smith, N. Randy f

Ninth

09/05/06

—

09/21/06

Returned

09/29/06

—

Wallace, Michael B. f

Ninth

09/05/06

09/26/06

—

Returned

09/29/06

—

This text is long and has been trimmed here. Open the source document for the complete record.

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