George H. W. Bush judicial appointment controversies
Encyclopedia
During President George H.W. Bush's term in office, he nominated 11 individuals for 10 different federal appellate judgeships
United States federal judge
In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....

 who were not processed by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. The Republicans claim that Senate Democrats of the 102nd Congress on purpose tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Democratic president to fill them. All 10 of the judgeships were eventually filled with Clinton nominees, although one nominee, Roger Gregory
Roger Gregory
Roger L. Gregory is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.- Background :Gregory was born in Philadelphia but grew up in Petersburg, Virginia. He earned his B.A. degree summa cum laude from Virginia State University in 1975 and his law degree from the...

, was nominated by Clinton and then renominated by President George W. Bush. None of the nominees were nominated after July 1, 1992, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule
Thurmond Rule
The Thurmond Rule is an informal and somewhat amorphous rule of thumb in the United States Senate. While it originated with former Senator Strom Thurmond's opposition to President Lyndon Johnson's nomination of Justice Abe Fortas to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in June of 1968, its...

 during a presidential election year. Senator Orrin Hatch
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...

, the Republican leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 106th Congress mentioned the controversy over President George H.W. Bush's court of appeals nominees during the following controversy involving the confirmation of any more Democratic court of appeals nominees during the last two years of President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

's second term.

List of failed nominees

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
    United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
    The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:* District of Delaware* District of New Jersey...

    • Pennsylvania seat - Franklin Stuart Van Antwerpen
      Franklin Stuart Van Antwerpen
      Franklin Stuart Van Antwerpen is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He assumed senior status on October 23, 2006, on his 65th birthday.- Early life and education :...

       (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Theodore McKee
      Theodore McKee
      Theodore Alexander McKee is the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He had previously served on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania....

      ) (Van Antwerpen later was nominated to a different Third Circuit seat by President George W. Bush in 2003, confirmed in 2004 and assumed senior status
      Senior status
      Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges, and judges in some state court systems. After federal judges have reached a certain combination of age and years of service on the federal courts, they are allowed to assume senior status...

       in 2006)
    • Pennsylvania seat - Jay Waldman
      Jay Waldman
      Jay Carl Waldman was a U.S. district judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S...

       (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee H. Lee Sarokin
      H. Lee Sarokin
      Haddon Lee Sarokin is a retired U.S. district judge and U.S. appeals court judge. Sarokin served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1994 until 1996.- Early life and education :...

      )

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
    United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
    The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:*District of Maryland*Eastern District of North Carolina...

    • North Carolina seat - Terrence Boyle
      Terrence Boyle
      Terrence William Boyle is a judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He was Chief Judge of that court from 1997-2004. From 1991 to 1993 and again from 2001 to 2007, he was a nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit...

       (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Roger Gregory
      Roger Gregory
      Roger L. Gregory is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.- Background :Gregory was born in Philadelphia but grew up in Petersburg, Virginia. He earned his B.A. degree summa cum laude from Virginia State University in 1975 and his law degree from the...

       of Virginia after being renominated by Bush in 2001) (Boyle was renominated to a different seat on the Fourth Circuit by President George W. Bush but was never confirmed)
    • Virginia seat - Lillian BeVier
      Lillian Bevier
      Lillian Riemer BeVier is a professor of law at The University of Virginia School of Law.- Early life and education :BeVier earned a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1961 and a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1965....

       (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Diana Jane Gribbon Motz)

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Louisiana* Middle District of Louisiana...

    • Texas seat - Sidney A. Fitzwater
      Sidney A. Fitzwater
      Sidney Allen Fitzwater is chief United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, Texas.-Early life and education:...

       (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Fortunato Benavides
      Fortunato Benavides
      Fortunato Pedro "Pete" Benavides , is a U.S. circuit judge sitting on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His chambers are in Austin, Texas.-Early life and education:...

      )

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
    United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
    The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Kentucky* Western District of Kentucky...

    • Michigan seat - John Smietanka
      John Smietanka
      John Smietanka was the prosecutor for Berrien County, Michigan, from 1974 to 1981, and a United States Attorney in Western Michigan, appointed by Ronald Reagan, from 1981 until 1994.- Career as a U.S. attorney :...

       (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Martha Craig Daughtrey
      Martha Craig Daughtrey
      Martha Craig Daughtrey is a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit....

       of Tennessee)
    • Ohio seat - Justin Wilson
      Justin Wilson (lawyer)
      Justin Potter Wilson is an American lawyer and Republican politician who is currently Tennessee state Comptroller of the Treasury. He formerly was Tennessee deputy governor, was a federal judicial nominee to the U.S...

       of Tennessee (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Karen Nelson Moore
      Karen Nelson Moore
      Karen Nelson Moore is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Her chambers are located in Cleveland, Ohio.-Education and legal training:...

       of Ohio, while the then-vacant and newly created Tennessee seat was eventually filled by Clinton nominee Martha Craig Daughtrey
      Martha Craig Daughtrey
      Martha Craig Daughtrey is a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit....

      )

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
    United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
    The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Colorado* District of Kansas...

    • Oklahoma seat - Frank Keating
      Frank Keating
      Francis Anthony "Frank" Keating is an American politician from Oklahoma. Keating served as the 25th Governor of Oklahoma. His first term began in 1995 and ended in 1999...

       (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Robert Harlan Henry
      Robert Harlan Henry
      See also Robert Henry Robert Harlan Henry is a former U.S. judge and politician from Oklahoma, and President of Oklahoma City University since July, 2010.-Biography:...

      )

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
    United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
    The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Middle District of Alabama...

    • Florida seat - Kenneth Ryskamp, followed by Federico Moreno (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Rosemary Barkett
      Rosemary Barkett
      Rosemary Barkett is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Prior to her nomination for that post, she was Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, where she was the first woman ever to serve on that court.- Background :Barkett has had an unusual career...

      )

  • United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
    • John G. Roberts, Jr. (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Judith Ann Wilson Rogers
      Judith Ann Wilson Rogers
      Judith Ann Wilson Rogers is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton to replace current Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. She joined the circuit in 1994.She received an A.B. from Radcliffe College in 1961,...

      ) (Roberts was renominated and confirmed to a different seat on the D.C. Circuit under President George W. Bush; later, he was nominated and confirmed as the Chief Justice of the United States
      Chief Justice of the United States
      The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...

       under George W. Bush)

See also

  • George H. W. Bush Supreme Court candidates
    George H. W. Bush Supreme Court candidates
    Speculation abounded over potential nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States by George H. W. Bush even before his presidency officially began, given the advanced ages of several justices....

  • United States federal judge
    United States federal judge
    In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....

  • Federal judicial appointment history
    Federal judicial appointment history
    The appointment of federal judges has become viewed as a political process in the last several decades. This is especially true of U.S. Supreme Court and court of appeals appointments...

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