U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations by President George W. Bush During the 107th-109th Congresses Page: 8 of 105
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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
4 (...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.
s See CRS Report RS21308, Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions, by Henry
B. Hogue.
6 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 108t' 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 109t' 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...."
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U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations by President George W. Bush During the 107th-109th Congresses, report, January 23, 2007; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc817341/m1/8/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.