Monday, Mar. 30, 2009

Republican appointees dominate federal judiciary

By Ken Robertson, Herald Executive Editor

Of the nation’s last 12 presidents, who had the best chance to influence the composition of the U.S. judicial system?

I suspect most folks would guess that it was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served 12 years in office before his death and who was accused of trying to pack the U.S. Supreme Court with appointees who were friendly to his New Deal programs, some of which the courts threw out.

In fact, of the 12 men who preceded President Barack Obama, Roosevelt finishes sixth on the list for total appointments to the federal bench. That’s according to The Third Branch Newsletter, which is published monthly by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Office of Public Affairs.

Roosevelt made 204 appointments to the various federal courts, according to the newsletter’s February issue. Third Branch notes it counted appointments, not individual judges, because some judges have been appointed more than once — for example, they moved from U.S. District Court to an appeals court.

I expect many conservatives will be surprised to learn Ronald Reagan made the most appointments to the federal bench — 384 — from 1981-88.

No. 2 was Bill Clinton, with 379 appointments; No. 3 George W. Bush, with 328; No. 4 Jimmy Carter, with 262; and No. 5 Richard Nixon, with 232.

Add the top three Republicans’ appointments together and it’s 944. Add the top three Democrats and it’s 845. GOP presidents hold an edge of 99 appointments.

And if you add in the other six presidents between Roosevelt and George W. Bush, the Republican edge grows to 101 appointments for a total of 1,383, compared with 1,282 for the Democrats.

All of which indicates the two political parties have had about the same number of chances to influence the makeup of the federal judiciary.

For those who might want to count only U.S. Supreme Court appointments, the Republicans hold a 19-18 edge. Roosevelt did get to make nine Supreme Court appointments, but since President Nixon, the only Democratic president to get to make appointments to the high court was Clinton, with two. Carter had no chance to make appointments to the high court.

From Nixon to the second Bush, Republican presidents have made 12 Supreme Court appointments.

So if the federal judiciary remains liberal after the GOP held the White House for 28 of the past 40 years, here’s the list of presidents to blame: Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the two Bushes.

Ken Robertson: 582-1520; krobertson@tricityherald.com

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