Washington — Without naming names or casting blame, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. called on Republicans and Democrats Friday to put aside their differences and move more quickly to approve qualified nominees to be federal judges.
Currently, about 110 judgeships — about one in eight in the federal judiciary — are vacant, and the Senate approved only 60 of President Barack Obama's court nominees in the past two years. That was the lowest total for a new president in four decades.
In Roberts' year-end report on the federal courts, he said this "persistent problem has developed ... over many years," and both parties have played a role.
"Each political party has found it easy to turn on a dime from decrying to defending the blocking of judicial nominations, depending on their changing political fortunes," he said. "This has created acute difficulties for some judicial districts."
Although the Senate confirmed 19 judicial nominees in December's lame-duck session, it let another 19 nominations die, even though most of them had been approved overwhelmingly by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
More than a decade ago, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist drew wide attention when he faulted Senate Republicans for blocking President Bill Clinton's court nominees. Roberts, however, made no mention of Obama and did not blame Republicans for the recent delays.
"The judiciary relies on the president's nominations and the Senate's confirmation process to fill judicial vacancies; we do not comment on the merits of individual nominees. That is as it should be," Roberts wrote. "There remains, however, an urgent need for the political branches to find a long-term solution to this recurring problem."
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