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Tonight, the Senate confirmed, without opposition, President Obama's nomination of Robert Bacharach to sit on a federal appeals court. Despite the bipartisan support he received, which included endorsements from both Republican senators in his home state of Oklahoma, Judge Bacharach still waited more than 260 days for this vote on his nomination. His case is just one example of delays that are becoming increasingly common, as NPR's Carrie Johnson reports.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler has some tough talk for the U.S. Senate.
KATHRYN RUEMMLER: I think the president's message is is that this unnecessary and needless delay needs to stop.
JOHNSON: Ruemmler says Congress is falling down on its job, leaving close to 90 judgeships, about 10 percent, unfilled. Candidates who aren't even controversial are waiting for months.
RUEMMLER: This is a commitment that the Senate and the president need to make to the American people, that we are going to do what we can to ensure that the third branch of government is fully staffed with the highest quality nominees. And he is doing everything he can in order to ensure that that happens. And he's asking for the Senate to join him in that effort.
JOHNSON: Carrie Severino is the top lawyer at the Judicial Crisis Network, a Republican group that fights left-leaning nominees. When it comes to judges, Severino says, the president...
CARRIE SEVERINO: Really hasn't made it a priority in his presidency. He has legislative priorities, he has priorities in terms of really amassing power in the administrative and the executive branch but hasn't really focused on judicial nominations.
JOHNSON: She says one result is that President Obama ended his first term with more judge vacancies than when he took office back in 2009. Not a bad thing for Severino and her allies.
SEVERINO: From a Republican perspective, we got lucky.
JOHNSON: But experts who study judge nominations say that could be starting to change. The president has been getting grief from liberal groups about the slow pace on judges. The White House moved to send a bunch of nominees to the Senate last month, the same day Congress reconvened.
Included in that batch was Caitlin Halligan, a nominee for the appeals court in Washington, D.C. She waited more than 700 days in the last Congress for a vote on the Senate floor before she was filibustered. Republicans don't like her positions on gay rights and guns. Severino, of the Judicial Crisis Network, says Halligan could provoke a firestorm all over again.
SEVERINO: She's probably the most controversial nominee that the president has thus far, so if he does bring her up, it's going to be a huge fight.
JOHNSON: But most of the president's judge nominees generate very little opposition once they finally get a vote. Russell Wheeler studies judicial nominations at the Brookings Institution. Wheeler says the administration's got a point when it blames the Senate for these long waits.
RUSSELL WHEELER: It's just taking an awful lot longer to get this done. And I think that has several consequences. Not only does it leave the judgeships vacant, it's got to discourage a lot of people from even wanting to get involved in it.
JOHNSON: For nominees to hold lower courts, there's some room for hope this year. The Senate agreed to limit floor debate on their nominations to two hours from 30 hours before, which means they're likely to move a little faster this time around. No such deal for appeals court nominees though, Wheeler says.
WHEELER: The whole thing is just broken, and it just is an indication that, frankly, the government can't do basic ministerial work that it has to do. That's what it comes down to.
JOHNSON: That's a sentiment that's become all too familiar about Washington. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
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