{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/filibuster-reform-one-year-later", "Filibuster reform, one year later", "2014-12-01", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Jeff Merkley", "M001176", "www.merkley.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Filibuster reform, one year later \r\n\r\n     Merkley praises increased pace of judicial confirmations \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMonday, December 1, 2014\r\n\r\n\t\n\r\n\r\n\r\n  \r\n    By:\u00a0\r\n    Andrew Clevenger\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n    \r\n    \r\n    The Bend Bulletin\r\n    \r\n    \r\n\r\nWASHINGTON \u2014 In the year since Senate Democrats \u2014 led by Oregon\u2019s Jeff Merkley \u2014 changed the rules on filibustering executive nominees, including federal judges below the U.S. Supreme Court, the number of empty judgeships has dropped to the lowest level since the first year of Barack Obama\u2019s presidency.\r\nAs of Friday, there were 56 vacancies, the lowest total since the month Obama took office, according to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. Only 19 of those were considered judicial emergencies, a designation for vacancies that have sat empty so long or in very busy courts as to create oversized caseloads for the remaining judges. That matches the lowest total since January 2009.\r\nFor most of Obama\u2019s administration, the number of judicial vacancies has been 90 or higher, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who is an expert on judicial nominations.\r\n\u201cThe numbers are much better than they were, and I think that\u2019s substantially attributable to the (rules) change,\u201d said Tobias. \u201cThat enabled the Democrats to overcome the obstruction by the Republicans.\u201d\r\nIf too many judgeships sit empty, the administration of justice is impaired, he said.\r\n\u201cBasically, it slows everything down. It imposes more duties and more work on fewer judges,\u201d he said. Criminal cases get priority because the Speedy Trial Act imposes time limits, he said, so civil cases have trouble securing trial dates and often experience postponements and long delays.\r\nFrustrated with what he viewed as a dysfunctional Senate, Merkley has worked with Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., to improve the upper chamber\u2019s productivity since their early days in the Senate. Several times, the would-be reformers were rebuffed by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who preferred striking deals with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to secure highly contested confirmations rather than changing Senate rules.\r\nFor Reid and other Democrats, the tipping point came when Republicans blocked two Obama nominees in November 2013, including Patricia Ann Millett for one of three vacant seats on the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals. Using the \u201cnuclear option\u201d to change Senate rules with only 51 votes \u2014 so-called because critics suggested that using it would lead to devastation for both those in the majority and minority \u2014 Democrats made it so that it no longer took 60 votes to advance and confirm nominees other than those to the U.S. Supreme Court.\r\n\u201cProviding a fair Senate vote on President Obama\u2019s nominees to fill three vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court \u2014 the second most important court in the country \u2014 was crucial to restoring the Court\u2019s integrity,\u201d said Merkley in a prepared statement. \u201cThe Senate has also more than doubled the pace of votes on judicial nominations. Enabling these nominees to receive fair up-or-down votes will have profound effects on issues that affect Americans every day, from clean air to women\u2019s health to keeping Wall Street in check.\u201d\r\nAccording to Merkley\u2019s office, the pace of judicial confirmations has doubled in the year since filibuster reform went into effect. In the year since the change, the Senate has confirmed 79 judges, compared with 43 in the 11 months leading up to the change. With the September confirmation of Jill Pryor to a seat on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the number of vacancies for appellate judges was reduced to seven, the lowest total since the end of Ronald Reagan\u2019s first term as president.\r\nThe Senate is also poised to conclude its most productive two-year period of judicial confirmations since the Clinton administration. During 1993-94, the Senate confirmed 128 judges, while the current Senate has confirmed 122 since January 2013. With more confirmations likely during the current lame-duck session, breaking the modern record is possible.\r\nStarting in January, Republicans will hold the majority of seats and will thereby be in a position to block any and all judicial nominations if they so choose.\r\nLena Zwarensteyn, deputy director of strategic engagement for the American Constitution Society, a progressive legal policy organization, said she doesn\u2019t expect judicial confirmations to come to a screeching halt in 2015.\r\n\u201cAll senators have a deep interest in ensuring that Americans can access the courts and the federal courts in their states and across the country are well-functioning,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not a time for senators to play games. We have seen Republicans obstruct the process and slow-walk nominations, but Republicans have an opportunity to demonstrate the cooperation they\u2019ve promised and judicial nominations are a great place to start.\u201d\r\nAlternatively, Republicans could try to slow the pace of judicial confirmations and run out the clock on the remaining two years of Obama\u2019s presidency, said the University of Richmond\u2019s Tobias.\r\n\u201cAs long as they think they are going to win the White House in 2016, they just have no incentive to move his nominees,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\n \r\n           \r\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/filibuster-reform-one-year-later"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9309060405939817, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}