From judy-doc@coollist.com Fri Apr 23 03:08:04 1999 Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 08:02:42 -0400 From: judy-doc List OwnerTo: judy-doc@coollist.com Subject: Lack of Judges = Lack of Justice [Note from Judydoc: I wonder how much of this backlog in the Federal courts is due to ERISA cases that should have been tried in STATE Courts were it not for ERISA. Just as much of the increased work load in ER's is coming from the large numbers of uninsured in our present system and the fact that even those with insurance have a difficult time getting an appointment to see their doctors when they have an urgency or emergency and still end up in the ER's (with their HMO approval OR MORE THAN LIKELY WITHOUT IT] Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy: "Yesterday I addressed the Senate on our need to vote on judicial nominations. I learned last year that lecturing the Republican leadership about the Senate^Òs duty to the judicial branch under the Constitution and citing emergencies, caseloads and backlogs in many courts around the country would not do the trick, so I again compared the Senate^Òs pace in confirming judges and Mark McGwire^Òs home run pace. I noted that I am going to have to start comparing the Senate^Òs pace to the home run pace of American League pitchers. Since the American League uses designated hitters rather than having their pitchers bat, the Senate has a chance of keeping up with them. It is already mid-April and the Senate has yet to act on a single judicial nominee. This Committee has yet to hold a confirmation hearing. Of course, last year the Senate had gotten off to an early lead on Mark McGwire. Last January through the end of April, the Senate had confirmed 22 judges. McGwire starting to catch up once baseball season started but it took him 10 weeks last year to catch and pass the Senate total. This year, McGwire passed the Senate^Òs total on opening day. That is because this year the Senate has yet to confirm a single federal judge. That is right: In spite of the 33 judicial nominations now pending, in spite of the fact that at least a dozen of those nominees have been pending before the Senate for more than 9 months, in spite of the fact that four of those nominations were favorably reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee and were on the Senate calendar last year, in spite of the 67 vacancies including 28 judicial emergency vacancies, the Senate has yet to confirm a single federal judge all year. Incredibly Mark McGwire is still on pace with what he accomplished last year. He has hit four home runs in his first seven games. Regrettably, the Senate is not on any pace. The Senate has gone 0 for January, February and March. It is threatening to go 0 for April, as well. By this time last year, the Senate had confirmed over 20 judges. By this time last year, we had held four confirmation hearing for judges. During the four years that the Republican majority has controlled the Senate, it has not even kept up with attrition on the federal bench. Even with the confirmations achieved last year, the current vacancies number more than existed at the time the Senate recessed in 1994. The Senate has not made the progress it should have in filling the longstanding vacancies that continue to plague the federal judiciary. The New York Times ran a front-page story recently on how the crushing workload in the federal appellate courts has lead to what the Times called a ^Ótwo-tier system^Ô for appeals. In testimony and statements over the last few years, I have seen Chief Judge Winter and former Chief Judge Newman of the Second Circuit, Chief Judge Hug and Judge Trott of the Ninth Circuit and Chief Judge Hatchett of the Eleventh Circuit all warn of the problem of too few judges and too much work. I deeply regret that these twin problems have combined to lead to the perception that the federal appellate courts can no longer provide the same attention to individual cases that has marked the federal administration of justice in the past. The only thing the Judiciary Committee does not ^Óhold^Ô any more is judicial confirmation hearings. I recall in 1994-- the most recent year in which the Democrats constituted the majority-- when the Judiciary Committee held 25 judicial confirmation hearings, including hearings to confirm a Supreme Court Justice. By April 15, 1994, we had held five hearings involving 21 nominees, and the Committee had reported 18 nominations and the Senate had confirmed 19. This year the Committee has reported two nominations and posted goose eggs across the rest of the board. The Senate continues to tolerate upwards of 67 vacancies in the federal courts with more on the horizon-- almost one in 13 judgeships remains unfilled and, from the looks of things, will remain unfilled into the future. The Judiciary Committee needs to do a better job and the Senate needs to proceed more promptly to consider nominees reported to it. Already this year the Senate has received 33 judicial nominations. Unfortunately, past delays mean that 28 of the current vacancies, over 40 percent, are already judicial emergency vacancies, having been empty for more than 18 months. A dozen of the nominations now pending had been received in years past. The nomination of Judge Paez to the Ninth Circuit dates back over three years. The nominations of Tim Dyk, Marsha Berzon, Justice Ronnie White and many other date back to last year. I again urge the Senate to take seriously its responsibilities and help the President fill the longstanding vacancies in the federal courts around the country. Today the score is running against the prompt and fair administration of justice-- vacancies 67, nominations 33, confirmations zero. " Here are the members of the Committee, and below, I have created a cut-and-paste list of addresses for the committee if you wish to write to them on this (or other) issues Senate Judiciary Committee Members: Republicans Orrin Hatch, UT Chairman Strom Thurmond, SC Chuck Grassley, IA Arlen Specter, PA Jon Kyl, AZ Mike Dewine, OH John Ashcroft, MO Spencer Abraham, MI Jeff Sessions, AL Bob Smith, NH Democrats Patrick Leahy, VT Ranking Member Edward Kennedy, MA Joseph Biden, DE Herb Kohl, WI Dianne Feinstein, CA Russell Feingold, WI Robert Torricelli, NJ Charles Schumer, NY To write to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee just cut & paste these addresses, put them in your address book as Senate Judiciary Committee for future use, or use the links provided:
senator_hatch@hatch.senate.gov
senator@thurmond.senate.gov
chuck_grassley@grassley.senate.gov
senator_specter@specter.senate.gov
info@kyl.senate.gov
senator_dewine@dewine.senate.gov
john_ashcroft@ashcroft.senate.gov
michigan@abraham.senate.gov
senator@sessions.senate.gov
opinion@smith.senate.gov
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
senator@kennedy.senate.gov
senator@biden.senate.gov
senator_kohl@kohl.senate.gov
senator@feinstein.senate.gov
russell_feingold@feingold.senate.gov
senator@torricelli.senate.gov
and Charles Schumer has a website from which you can now send emails:
http://www.senate.gov/~schumer/html/electronic_mail.html