Order Code RL31635
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Judicial Nomination Statistics:
U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1977-2003
Updated August 28, 2003
Denis Steven Rutkus
Specialist in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
Mitchel A. Sollenberger
Consultant
Government and Finance Division
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Judicial Nomination Statistics:
U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1977-2003
Summary
Statistics regarding procedural actions taken on U.S. district and circuit court
nominations have been compiled by CRS for the period January 4, 1977 to August
1, 2003. The statistics are complete for the 95th Congress up to the August recess of
the first session of the 108th Congress. Among other things, the statistics, for the
1977-2003 period, show:
! Over the course of five successive presidencies, the Senate confirmation
percentage for circuit court nominations has declined.
! The great majority of each President’s nominations have either been
confirmed or returned. An average of seven nominations per President have
been withdrawn. One nomination has been disapproved by a Senate vote.
! The confirmation percentage for district and circuit court nominations
combined was greater than 60% for every congressional session from 1977
through 1990, whereas the district and circuit combined confirmation rate has
been less than 60% for nine of the last 13 congressional sessions.
! The average number of days elapsing between nomination date and final
action has been higher for most Congresses in the post-1990 period than for
prior Congresses.
! Starting with the 100th Congress (1987-1988), and in five of the eight
Congresses since, an average of more than 100 days has elapsed between
nomination dates and committee votes on either district or circuit court
nominations, or on both.
! For almost every Congress in the post-1990 period, the percentages of district
and circuit court nominations left pending at the end of the Congress were
higher than corresponding percentages for the pre-1990 Congresses.
! The Senate returned substantially more nominations during the 102nd, 106th,
and 107th Congresses than during any other Congresses in the 1977-2002
period.
! The average number of days between nomination date and final action
increased in Congresses ending in presidential election years.
! The vast majority of judicial nominations submitted during the 1977-2002
period received committee hearings and votes, as well as full Senate votes,
although the share of nominations receiving committee and Senate action
declined during the 102nd , 106th, and 107th Congresses.
This report will be updated at the close of the first session of the 108th Congress.

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Contents
Procedural Steps for Judicial Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Methodology in Preparing Statistical Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Data Collected by CRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Re-Submitted Nominations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Report by The Constitution Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Overview of the Statistical Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
List of Tables
Table 1. U.S. District Court and Circuit Court Judgeships:
Number Authorized, Number Vacant, and Percent Vacant, by Year,
1977-2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Table 2 (a). U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations of
Five Most Recent Presidents (1977-August 1, 2003):
Number Submitted, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed . . . . . . . . 12
Table 2 (b). U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominees of
Five Most Recent Presidents (1977-August 1, 2003):
Number Nominated, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed . . . . . . . 13
Table 3. Total Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations of
Five Most Recent Presidents (1977-August 1, 2003), Broken Down
by Final Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Table 4 (a). U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations for Each Congress:
Number Received, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Table 4 (b). Nominees to U.S. District and U.S. Circuit Court Judgeships
During Each Congress: Number Nominated, Number Confirmed, and
Percent Confirmed, 95th Congress to 108th Congress
(1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Table 5 (a). U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations for Each Session
of Congress: Number Received, Number Carried Over from First Session
to Second Session, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Table 5 (b). Nominees to U.S. District and Circuit Court Judgeships
During Each Session of Congress: Number Nominated,
Number Whose Nominations Were Carried Over from First Session
to Second Session, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Table 6. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003), Broken Down
by Final Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Table 7. U.S. District Court and Circuit Court Nominations: Number Pending
at End of Each Congress, and Their Percentage of All Nominations
Received During That Congress, 95th Congress to 107th Congress
(1977-2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Table 8. U.S. District Court and Circuit Court Nominations:
Average Number of Days Elapsing from Nomination Date to Final Action,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

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Table 9. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Referred to
Senate Judiciary Committee, Receiving Committee Hearings,
Committee Vote, and Senate Vote, by Congress, 95th Congress
to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Table 10. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Referred to
Senate Judiciary Committee, Receiving Committee Hearings,
Committee Vote, and Senate Vote, by Year, 95th Congress to
108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Table 11. U.S. District Court and Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number
of Days Elapsing from Nomination Date to Hearing, Committee Action,
and Final Action,a 95th Congress to 108th Congress
(1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Table 12. U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations: Annual Percent
Confirmed When One Party Controls Both Presidency and Senate
(‘Unified Government’), versus When One Party Controls Presidency
and Other Controls Senate (‘Divided Government’), 95th Congress
to 107th Congress (1977-2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Table 13. Votes by Senate Judiciary Committee on U.S. District and
Circuit Court Nominations Other Than Those Agreeing to Report
Favorably, 95th Congress to the 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . 39
Table 14. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Re-submitted
in a Succeeding Congress After Nominations of Same Persons in a
Previous Congress Failed to Be Confirmed, 95th Congress to
108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Table 15. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations in a Congress
That Were Re-Submitted Within the Same Congress, 95th Congress to
108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

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Judicial Nomination Statistics:
U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1977-2003
Procedural Steps for Judicial Appointments
The process for making lifetime appointments to judgeships in the U.S. District
Courts and U.S. Courts of Appeals involves the same formal steps as those involved
in the appointment of Supreme Court justices.1 The process officially begins when
the President selects someone to fill a judicial vacancy, submitting a nomination in
writing to the Senate. Usually, on the same day it is received by the Senate, the
nomination is referred by the Senate Executive Clerk to the Committee on the
Judiciary, the Senate committee having jurisdiction over district and appellate, as
well as most other federal court, nominations. In the next step in the appointment
process the Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on the nomination. Then, the
committee votes on whether to report the nomination to the full Senate. The final
step occurs when the Senate votes to confirm or disapprove the nomination.
Confirmation requires a simple majority vote. If the Senate votes in the negative on
whether to confirm, a resolution of disapproval is forwarded to the President.
As with nominations in general, however, judicial nominations sometimes fail
to advance through each procedural step in the appointment process. After referral
to committee, a nomination might fail to receive a hearing or, after receiving a
hearing, might fail to receive a committee vote on whether it should be reported.
Even if reported by committee, it might fail to receive a vote by the Senate on
whether to confirm. If it fails to receive a Senate vote, the nomination ultimately will
either be withdrawn by the President or returned to the President by the Secretary of
the Senate upon a Senate adjournment or recess of more than 30 days.2
Methodology in Preparing Statistical Tables
In the following pages, 18 tables provide statistics or tracking information
concerning procedural actions, as described above, taken on U.S. district court and
U.S. court of appeals nominations during the period January 4, 1977 to August 1,
1 See CRS Report RL31989, Supreme Court Appointment Process: Roles of the President,
Judiciary Committee, and Senate, by Denis Steven Rutkus; and CRS Report RL31980,
Senate Consideration of Presidential Nominations: Committee and Floor Procedure, by
Elizabeth Rybicki.
2
Rule XXXI, paragraph 6, Standing Rules of the Senate, provides, in part, that “if the
Senate shall adjourn or take a recess for more than thirty days, all nominations pending and
not finally acted upon at the time of taking such adjournment or recess shall be returned by
the Secretary to the President and shall not again be considered unless they shall again be
made to the Senate by the President.”

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CRS-2
2003. The time period begins with the convening of the 95th Congress and carries
up to the August recess of the first session of the 108th Congress. The period
coincides with the terms in office of the five most recent Presidents (starting with the
presidency of Jimmy Carter on January 20, 1977 and carrying through the first two
years and seven months of the presidency of George W. Bush).3 Depending on the
table, statistics are broken down by year, presidency, Congress, or congressional
session.
Data Collected by CRS. The following tables, except for Table 1,4 were
generated from a CRS database of nomination dates and actions created by Mitchel
Sollenberger, a Ph.D. candidate at The Catholic University, under the supervision of
Denis Steven Rutkus, CRS Specialist in American National Government. The data
for the CRS database were collected from the daily editions of the Congressional
Record, various volumes of the Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate,
and final editions of the Legislative and Executive Calendar of the Senate Judiciary
Committee (which are published at the close of each Congress and include a calendar
of actions taken on every judicial nomination referred to the committee during that
Congress).
Data collection focused on the dates and procedural actions taken on
nominations made to judgeships in the U.S. District Courts (including the Territorial
district courts) and the U.S. Courts of Appeals in the 1977-2003 period. (Note:
Courts within the latter system are often called circuit courts, because they are
divided into 12 geographic circuits and an additional nationwide circuit having
specialized subject matter jurisdiction; in the following pages and tables, nominations
to court of appeals judgeships are referred to as “circuit court nominations,” and the
courts are referred to as “circuit courts.”) The primary purpose in compiling these
statistics was to provide a comparative look — from presidency to presidency, from
Congress to Congress, and from one congressional session to another — at the
number of district and circuit court nominations submitted to the Senate, the number
and percentage receiving committee and Senate action, and the average time taken
to hold hearings, conduct committee votes, and conduct Senate votes on the
nominations.
Re-Submitted Nominations. Most of the following statistical tables
account for all nominations made to district and circuit court judgeships during the
1977-2003 period. These tables, in other words, account for every instance in which
3 The 1977 starting point for the time period examined is the same as that of several earlier
multi-year statistical studies of the lower court appointment process.
See Garland W.
Allison, “Delay in Senate Confirmation of Federal Judicial Nominees,” Judicature, vol. 80
(July-Aug. 1996), pp. 8-15; Miller Center of Public Affairs, Improving the Process of
Appointing Federal Judges: A Report of the Miller Center Commission on the Selection of
Federal Judges (Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1996), 42 p.; and “Report of the
Task Force on Federal Judicial Selection,” in Uncertain Justice: Politics and America’s
Courts: The Reports of the Task Forces of Citizens For Independent Courts (New York: The
Century Foundation Press, 2000), pp. 11-75.
4 The data for Table 1, involving annual number of judgeships and vacancies, were supplied
by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

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CRS-3
a district or circuit court nomination was made, including re-nominations of
individuals to the same judgeship. However, three of the statistical tables — Table
2(b), Table 4(b), and Table 5(c) — are different, in that they account only for the
number of individuals nominated. These tables exclude from their totals the number
of “re-submitted” nominations — i.e., those made when individuals were re-
nominated to the same judgeship. Calculations in these tables adjust downward the
number of total nominations by the number of re-submissions to show the number
of actual persons nominated and the percentage of persons nominated who were
confirmed.
The distinction between the number of nominations and the number of
nominees can be an important one — especially when a substantial number of
individuals are nominated more than once to the same judgeship within a given time
frame.
If re-submitted nominations are included in the nominations total for a
particular presidency, Congress, or session of Congress, the confirmation percentage
for that time frame will be less than if the re-submitted nominations are excluded.5
For a table to accurately present the total number of persons nominated, and the
percentage of them confirmed, it is necessary to count only nominees — by
subtracting the number of re-submissions made within the given time frame from the
number of total nominations. These adjustments have been made in Tables 2(b),
4(b), and 5(b). Hence, while Tables 2(a), 4(a), and 5(a) account for nominations in
recent presidencies, Congresses, and sessions of Congress, Tables 2(b), 4(b), and
5(b) serve as companion tables, accounting only for nominees within the same time
frames.
The differences between total nominations and total nominees are most
pronounced in the 107th Congress. Compared with other Congresses in the 1977-
2003 period, an unusually high number of judicial nominations were re-submitted
during the 107th Congress — 20 district court and 21 circuit court nominations.6
Because of these additional nominations, the confirmation percentages for district
court nominations, circuit court nominations, and district and circuit nominations
combined in the 107th Congress are significantly less than the confirmation
percentages for nominees in these categories. Differences between confirmation
percentages for nominations and nominees exist as well in other Congresses in
which nominations were re-submitted, but to a lesser degree than in the 107th
Congress. To compare the percentages of nominations confirmed with percentages
5 Re-submitted nominations also serve to skew downward calculations of the average time
taken on nominations on the appointment process. Re-submissions of nominations within
a Congress, or in a succeeding Congress, will cause, for time averaging purposes, the
overall time in which each of the individuals in question was in nominee status to be divided
by two or more time segments, rather than by just one.
6 During the 107th Congress, the Senate, upon adjourning for its August 2001 recess,
returned 20 district court nominations and 20 circuit court nominations to President George
W. Bush, who in turn re-submitted all 40 nominations to the Senate when it reconvened on
Sept. 4, 2001. One other circuit court nomination was re-submitted during the 108th
Congress as well — when President Bush, after having withdrawn a nomination initially
made by outgoing President William J. Clinton, re-nominated the individual. See Table 15.

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CRS-4
of nominees confirmed in each Congress, see Table 4(a) and Table 4(b),
respectively.
Two other tables in the following pages focus exclusively on re-submitted
nominations. Table 14, starting with the 95th Congress, shows the number of
unconfirmed U.S. district and circuit court nominations in each Congress which were
re-submitted in the next Congress and the number of these re-submitted nominations
that were confirmed. Table 15, also starting with the 95th Congress, shows the
number of unconfirmed district and circuit court nominations in each Congress which
were re-submitted later in the same Congress and the number of
these re-
submissions that were confirmed.
Report by The Constitution Project. The tables below provide judicial
nomination and confirmation data similar in significant respects to data released
recently by The Constitution Project, a bipartisan nonprofit organization
headquartered in Washington, D.C. In a 1999 report,7 and in an updated report
released in January 2002,8 The Constitution Project and Professor Wendy Martinek
of Binghamton University analyzed nomination and confirmation data for lower
federal judges from 1977 through 2001. A principal purpose of their reports was to
determine the average time taken to nominate and confirm federal judges and to
determine to what extent that time average had changed over the years spanned by
the study. Hence, The Constitution Project and CRS databases are similar in their
scope, in recording and counting the number of days between nomination dates and
confirmation or other final actions.
Distinct from the CRS database, The Constitution Project reports also have
calculated, for each President during the 1977-2001 period, the average number of
days elapsing between the creation of judicial vacancies and a President’s nomination
of judicial candidates.9 For its part, the CRS database, and the tables below, are
distinctive in counting hearings and committee votes, as well as Senate votes and
other final actions on district and circuit court nominations, and for determining time-
lapse averages not only between nomination and Senate and other final action but
also between nomination and hearings, and nomination and committee votes.
7 “Report of the Task Force on Federal Judicial Selection,” in Uncertain Justice: Politics
and America’s Courts, pp. 11-75.
8 “‘Justice Held Hostage’: An Update of the 1999 Study by The Constitution Project and
Wendy Martinek, Ph.d., of Binghamton State University, January 2001,” available at
[http://www.constitutionproject.org/ci/reports/fedcourtupd.PDF], visited Aug. 20, 2002.
9 The Constitution Project studies also collected data on the gender and race of each
nominee to determine to what extent the “success rate” (the percentage of all nominations
that were actually confirmed) and average number of days between nomination and final
action varied, according to the gender or race of the nominees. The studies also examined
the effect of “divided government” (when one party has control of the Senate and the other
party the White House) on confirmation “success rates” and average number of days
between nomination and final action.

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CRS-5
Overview of the Statistical Tables
Table 1 identifies the annual number of full-time district and circuit court
judgeships authorized by law and the number and percentage of these judgeships
which were vacant at a specified time each year. Also, the notes to Table 1 indicate
when legislation was enacted, or when other developments occurred, which changed
the number of judgeships authorized by law.
Tables 2(a), 2(b), and 3 provide a presidency-by-presidency breakdown of
judicial nomination and confirmation statistics for the 1977-2003 period. Table
2(a) shows the number of district and circuit court nominations submitted by each
President and the number and percentage of these nominations confirmed by the
Senate. A companion table, Table 2(b), shows the number of persons nominated by
each President to district and circuit court judgeships, and the number and percentage
of them who were confirmed. (The number of persons nominated in both court
categories was arrived at by subtracting from a President’s total nominations, shown
in Table 2(a), the number of nominations that the President re-submitted.) Tables
2(a) and 2(b) reveal, over the course of five successive presidencies, a continuing
decline in the confirmation percentage for nominations, and nominees, to circuit
court judgeships, as well as for district and circuit court judgeships combined.
Table 3 breaks down each President’s district and circuit court nomination
totals by the type of final action taken on them, with every nomination categorized
according to one of four possible types of final action: (1) confirmation by the
Senate; (2) withdrawal by the President; (3) Senate return of the nomination to the
President upon a Senate adjournment or recess or more than 30 days; or (4) Senate
rejection by a vote disapproving a nomination. The table shows that the great
majority of nominations during the 1977-2003 period were either confirmed or
returned, that there has been an average of seven withdrawals per presidency, and that
the Senate has voted its disapproval of a nomination only once.
Tables 4(a) through 8 provide judicial nominations statistics by Congress.
Table 4(a) presents, for each Congress during the 1977-2003 period, the number of
district and circuit court nominations received by the Senate, and the number and
percent of those nominations confirmed. A companion table, Table 4(b), presents
the number of persons nominated to district and circuit court judgeships during each
Congress, and the number and percentage of them who were confirmed. The two
tables indicate that during three Congresses (the 96th, 99th, and 102nd), significantly
more district and circuit court nominations were received by the Senate, and more
persons were nominated to these judgeships, than during the immediately preceding
Congress. In the case of each of the three Congresses, a statute creating new
judgeships had been enacted the year before. (The precise number of judgeships that
were created by each statute are given in source notes to Table 1.) Table 4(a) shows
that in a fourth Congress as well (the 107th), significantly more nominations were
received by the Senate than during the immediately preceding Congress. In this case,
the relatively large numbers of district and circuit court nominations received were
attributable in part to the return by the Senate of a significant number of nominations
to the President at the start of an August recess, followed by the re-nomination of all
of the individuals involved when the Senate reconvened in September.

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CRS-6
Tables 4(a) and 4(b) show for the 1977-2000 period an uninterrupted pattern
in which the Senate confirmed a smaller percentage of a President’s district and
circuit nominations, and nominees, during the second Congress of the President’s
term in office than in the first Congress of the presidential term. Table 4(b) also
shows that the same confirmation pattern is holding thus far for both district and
circuit nominees during the 2001-2003 period (spanning the 107th Congress and the
first session of the current 108th Congress up to the August 2003 recess). Whether
or not the pattern ultimately will be the same upon the final adjournment of the 108th
Congress remains to be seen.
Tables 5(a) and 5(b) present district and circuit court nominations and
confirmations statistics for each session of Congress. Specifically, Table 5(a) shows
the number of nominations received in each congressional session, the number of
nominations carried over (i.e., remaining in “status quo”) from the first session to the
second session, and the number and percent confirmed each session.10 A companion
table, Table 5(b), presents the number of persons nominated to district and circuit
court judgeships during each session, and the number and percentage of them who
were confirmed. The tables show that the confirmation percentages for district and
circuit court nominations combined, and for district and circuit court nominees
combined, were greater than 60% for every congressional session during the years
1977 through 1990 and that, by contrast, from 1991 to August 1, 2003, the district
and circuit combined confirmation rates, for both nominations and nominees, have
been less than 60% for 9 of the last 13 congressional sessions (including the current,
unfinished first session of the 108th Congress).
Table 6 breaks down, for each Congress, the total number of district and circuit
court nominations by the final action taken on them. Final action, as in Table 3,
covers one of four mutually exclusive outcomes: confirmation by the Senate;
withdrawal by the President; Senate return of the nomination to the President upon
a Senate adjournment or recess or more than 30 days; and Senate rejection by a vote
disapproving a nomination. The table shows that during the Congresses coinciding
with the last two years of the presidencies of George H. W. Bush and William J.
Clinton and with the first two years of the presidency of George W. Bush (the 102nd,
106th, and 107th Congresses respectively), the Senate returned substantially more
judicial nominations (54 during the 102nd Congress, 42 during the 106th Congress,
and 70 during the 107th Congress) than during any other Congresses in the 1977-2002
period. In the case of the 70 returned judicial nominations of George W. Bush, 40
of the returns occurred at the start of the Senate’s August 2001 recess in the first
session of the 107th Congress.11 (On August 3, 2001, just before it adjourned for its
10 For each Congress, the number of nominations carried over from the first session is added
to the number of nominations received in the second session — the sum of which is the
total number of nominations that were pending at some point during the second session.
11 Nearly all of the returns in the 102nd and 106th Congresses, by contrast, were made at the
close of the Congresses, allowing Presidents George H. W. Bush and William J. Clinton, if
they were so inclined, to resubmit the nominations only as out-going Presidents during the
first few weeks of the next Congress — after which, it might be anticipated, any such
(continued...)

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CRS-7
August recess, the Senate, in an unusual pre-adjournment stalemate, failed to reach
a unanimous consent agreement to have all or nearly all nominations then pending
remain in status quo over the recess, resulting in the return of 164 nominations,
including 20 district court and 20 circuit court nominations.)12
Table 7 focuses on the number of district and circuit court nominations pending
at the final adjournment of each Congress.13 The number of judicial nominations
pending at the end of each Congress is broken down between those which received,
and those which did not receive, a committee hearing. Further, the number is
presented as a percentage of all nominations received by the Senate during the
Congress. Table 7 shows, over the 1977-2002 period, a consistent pattern: In each
Congress ending in a presidential election year, judicial nominations pending at the
final adjournment constituted a larger percentage of all nominations received than in
either the immediately preceding or immediately following Congress.14 The table
also shows that for 10 of the 13 Congresses in the 1977-2002 time frame, the
percentages of circuit court nominations left pending at the end of the Congresses
were higher than corresponding percentages for district court nominations.
Table 8 presents, for each Congress, the average number of days which elapsed
between the President’s submission of judicial nominations to the Senate and the
dates on which the nominations received final action. For district and circuit court
nominations respectively, in each Congress, the table shows two time-lapse averages:
first, for successful nominations, the average number of days between nomination
and confirmation; second, for unconfirmed nominations, the average number of days
between nomination and withdrawal by the President, return by the Senate (upon an
adjournment or recess of more than 30 days), or rejection by Senate vote.15 Table 8
shows that the average number of days elapsing from nomination date to final action,
for both district and circuit nominations, has been much higher for most Congresses
in the post-1990 period than for prior Congresses.16 The table also shows a pattern
11 (...continued)
resubmitted nominations likely would be withdrawn by the incoming President.
In this
respect, the returns were in contrast to the nominations made in earlier Congresses, when
there remained to Presidents Bush and Clinton the opportunity to resubmit the nominations
in Congresses coinciding with years remaining in their presidencies.
12 See “Unanimous Consent Request — Executive Calendar,” Congressional Record, daily
edition, vol. 147 (Aug. 3, 2001), pp. S8888-S8891.
13
Nominations data for the current 108th Congress, which is still in its first session, are
incomplete for purposes of Table 7 and therefore are excluded from the table.
14 The highest combined number of district and circuit nominations pending at the end of a
Congress were the 53 nominations by President George H. W. Bush, at the end of the 102nd
Congress; the next highest number were the 41 nominations by President Clinton pending
at the end of the 106th Congress.
15 Averages are not provided for unconfirmed nominations in the 108th Congress, because
as of Aug. 1, 2003 all of the unconfirmed nominations were pending (and, thus, had yet to
receive final action).
16 The table shows that a forerunner of these relatively high time averages for the most
(continued...)

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CRS-8
in which the average number of days elapsing between nomination date and final
action increased in Congresses ending in a presidential election year and decreased
in the following Congress, only to increase again in the next Congress ending in a
presidential election year.
Tables 9, 10 and 11 provide statistics for committee action, as well as for
Senate or other final action, in the judicial appointment process. Table 9 shows, for
each Congress, how many district court and circuit court nominations were referred
to the Senate Judiciary Committee, received a committee hearing, were voted on by
the committee, and were voted on by the Senate. Table 10 provides these same
statistics for each session of Congress.17 The two tables show that in the case of most
Congresses during the 1977-2003 period, the vast majority of judicial nominations
submitted received committee hearings and votes as well as full Senate votes.
Exceptions to this generalization were the 102nd, 106th, and the 107th Congresses,
where there was a sharp drop-off in the share of nominations receiving committee
hearings or votes. In the current 108th Congress as well, as of August 1, 2003, a
substantial share of district and circuit court nominees had yet to receive hearings or
committee votes.
The data for the 108th Congress, however, are incomplete and
await, for purposes of Table 9, the final adjournment of the Congress and, for
purposes of Table 10, the final adjournment of its first session.
Table 11 presents for each Congress the average number of days between the
President’s submission of judicial nominations to the Senate and the dates on which
the nominations received a hearing, a committee vote, or final action. The table
shows, among other things, that the 100th Congress, in 1987-1988, was the first
Congress in the time period of this study during which an average of more than 100
days elapsed between nomination dates and committee votes on district and circuit
court nominations.
The average time elapsing between nomination date and
committee vote has exceeded 100 days, for district court or circuit court nominations
(or for both) in five of the eight Congresses since the 100th Congress.
16 (...continued)
recent Congresses was the 100th Congress, when the average times elapsing between
nomination date and final action for all district court nominations (136 days) and for all
circuit court nominations (172 days) were more than three times greater than the time
averages of four of the previous five Congresses.
Standing out among the five earliest
Congresses in the 1977-1986 period for its relatively high average times between
nomination date and final action was the 96th Congress (1979-1980). A major contributing
factor in the increased average times between nomination date and final action in the 96th
Congress likely was the statutory creation in 1978 of 117 new district judgeships and 35 new
circuit judgeships (see Table 1 and applicable table note), which resulted in an unusually
heavy nominations workload for the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate as a whole
in 1979 and 1980.
17
In some of the 2-year periods of Table 10, it should be noted, various nominations
referred to committee in the first year received hearings, committee votes, or Senate votes
only in the second year (the second session of that particular Congress). This carryover of
action on nominations into the second year explains why, in some cases, numbers in the
action columns for the second year of a 2-year period are higher than the number of
nominations referred to committee in the second year.

---

CRS-9
Table 12 focuses on judicial confirmation percentages in the context of party
control of the presidency and the Senate. Specifically, the table differentiates
between time periods when one party controlled both the presidency and the Senate
(referred to as periods of “unified government”) and when the presidency and the
Senate were controlled by opposing parties (referred to as periods of “divided
government”). Table 12 presents annual and multi-year percentages of district and
circuit court nominations confirmed for each “unified government” and “divided
government” time period.18
The table reveals that during periods of “unified
government,” the multi-year confirmation percentages for district and circuit
nominations combined were higher than during periods of “divided government.”
Table 12 also shows that the multi-year confirmation percentage for circuit court
nominations fell to 50% or below during three periods of “divided government” —
those coinciding with the 100th Congress, with the 104th to 106th Congresses, and
with most, but not all, of the107th Congress.
Table 13 presents Senate Judiciary Committee votes on lower court
nominations other than those approving motions to report favorably. Specifically,
this table lists every vote by the Committee, during the 1977-2003 period, on
motions made to report a circuit or district court nomination adversely or without
recommendation, as well as motions to report favorably which were defeated.
Arranged chronologically by the date each nomination was received in the Senate,
the table lists, for each nomination, the motion and vote of the Judiciary Committee
and the final outcome in the Senate.
Table 14 presents the number of unconfirmed district and circuit court
nominations in each Congress which were re-submitted in the next Congress and the
number of these re-submitted nominations that were confirmed. The table indicates
that during the 99th, 105th and 108th Congresses, significantly more U.S. district court
nominations were re-submitted by the President from the previous Congress than
during any other periods.
Table 15 presents the number of unconfirmed district and circuit court
nominations in each Congress that were re-submitted later in that same Congress,
and the number of these re-submissions that were confirmed. The table reveals that
one or more re-submissions occurred within a Congress during six of the 14
Congresses covered for this report. The 107th Congress recorded the most instances
of re-submissions within a Congress, 41 — more than four times as many as the next
highest number of re-submissions, nine, in the 99th Congress.
18
Annual confirmation percentages for 2003 are excluded from the table because
nominations data for the first session of the 103rd Congress are current only through Aug.
1, 2003.

---

CRS-10
Table 1. U.S. District Court and Circuit Court Judgeships:
Number Authorized, Number Vacant, and Percent Vacant, by Year, 1977-2003
District Courtsb
Circuit Courts
District and Circuit combined
Year a
Authorized
Percent
Authorized
Percent
Authorized
Percent
Vacancies
Vacancies
Vacancies
Judgeships
Vacant
Judgeships
Vacant
Judgeships
Vacant
1977
398
25
6.3%
97
10
10.3%
495
35
7.1%
1978
399
15
3.8%
97
2
2.1%
496
17
3.4%
1979 c
516
119
23.1%
132
38
28.8%
648
157
24.2%
1980
516
32
6.2%
132
6
4.5%
648
38
5.9%
1981
516
41
7.9%
132
9
6.8%
648
50
7.7%
1982 d
515
20
3.9%
132
7
5.3%
647
27
4.2%
1983 e
515
25
4.9%
144
4
2.8%
659
29
4.4%
1984
515
16
3.1%
144
2
1.4%
659
18
2.7%
1985f
575
75
13.0%
168
22
13.1%
743
97
13.1%
1986
575
40
7.0%
168
11
6.5%
743
51
6.9%
1987
575
43
7.5%
168
13
7.7%
743
56
7.5%
1988
575
28
4.9%
168
10
6.0%
743
38
5.1%
1989
575
36
6.3%
168
12
7.1%
743
48
6.5%
1990
575
34
5.9%
168
10
6.0%
743
44
5.9%
1991 g
649
112
17.3%
179
24
13.4%
828
136
16.4%
1992
649
84
12.9%
179
17
9.5%
828
101
12.2%
1993
649
107
16.5%
179
20
11.2%
828
127
15.3%
1994
649
60
9.2%
179
18
10.1%
828
78
9.4%
1995
649
46
7.1%
179
11
6.1%
828
57
6.9%
1996 h
647
44
6.8%
179
18
10.1%
826
62
7.5%
1997
647
69
10.7%
179
24
13.4%
826
93
11.3%
1998 i
646
55
8.5%
179
17
9.5%
825
72
8.7%
1999
646
38
5.9%
179
24
13.4%
825
62
7.5%
2000 j
655
43
6.6%
179
23
12.8%
834
66
7.9%
2001 k
665
75
11.3%
179
32
17.9%
844
107
12.7%
2002
665
51
7.7%
179
27
15.1%
844
78
9.2%
2003 l m
680
33
4.9%
179
19
10.6%
859
52
6.1%
Sources: Authorized judgeship and judicial vacancy numbers for each year, as well as the table note citations to statutes creating new judgeships, were supplied by the Administrative
Office of the U.S. Courts (AO). The percentage of authorized judgeships vacant each year, based on the judgeship and vacancy numbers provided by the AO, were calculated by
the Congressional Research Service.

---

CRS-11
a. Data for 1977 to 1992 are as of June 30 of each year. Data for 1993 through 2002 are as of Sept. 30 of each year. Data for 2003 are as of Aug. 8, 2003, and are the most current
data as of the issuance of this CRS report.
b. U.S. District Courts include the Territorial Courts.
c. P.L. 95-486 (Oct. 20, 1978), 92 Stat. 1629, created 35 circuit court and 117 district court judgeships.
d. The U.S. District Court for the District of the Canal Zone was closed March 31, 1982, in accordance with P.L. 96-70 (Sept. 27, 1979), 93 Stat. 452.
e. P.L. 97-164 (April 2, 1982), 96 Stat. 25, created the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit with 12 judgeships.
f. 1984 Act - P.L. 98-353 (July 10, 1984), 98 Stat. 333, created 24 circuit court and 61 district court judgeships. One temporary judgeship created by P.L. 95-486 was never converted
to a permanent position.
g. P.L. 101-650 (Dec. 1, 1990), 104 Stat. 5089, created 11 circuit court and 74 district court judgeships.
h. Two temporary judgeships created by P.L. 101-650 were never converted to permanent positions.
i. One temporary judgeship created by P.L. 101-650 was never converted to a permanent position.
j. P.L. 106-113 (Nov. 29, 1999), 113 Stat.1535, created 9 district court judgeships.
k. P.L. 106-553 (Dec. 21, 2000), 114 Stat. 2762, created 10 district court judgeships on Dec. 21, 2000.
l. Current to Aug. 8, 2003.
m. P.L. 107-273 (Nov. 2, 2002), 116 Stat. 1786, created 8 new permanent district judgeships and 7 new temporary district judgeships, effective July 15, 2003.

---

CRS-12
Table 2 (a). U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations of
Five Most Recent Presidents (1977-August 1, 2003):
Number Submitted, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed
President
District Court
Circuit Court
District and Circuit
(Congresses, years)
Nominations a
Nominations
Combined
Jimmy Carter
N
228
61
289
(95th to 96th,
1977-1980)
C
206
56
262
%
90.4%
91.8%
90.7%
Ronald Reagan
N
336
102
438
(97th to 100th,
1981-1988)
C
292
83
375
%
86.9%
81.4%
85.6%
George H. W. Bush
N
199
54
253
(101st to 102nd,
1989-1992)
C
150
42
192
%
75.4%
77.8%
75.9%
William J. Clinton
N
382
115 c
497
(103rd to 106th,
1993-2000)
C
306
65
371
%
80.1%
56.5%
74.6%
George W. Bush
N
185 d
79 e
264
(107th to 108th,
2001-Aug. 1, 2003)
C
117
27
144
%
63.2%
34.2%
54.5%
Note: The cells in this table account for the number of nominations submitted to the Senate for U.S. District
and Circuit Court judgeships during each of the five most recent presidential administrations. The cells
account for all instances in which an individual was nominated to the same judgeship during a particular
presidency — including not only the first nomination but also any “re-submitted” nominations made when an
individual was re-nominated to the same judgeship.
By contrast, for an accounting only of individuals
nominated to U.S. District and Circuit Court judgeships (excluding the number of “re-submitted”
nominations), see the following Table 2 (b).
Legend: N=number submitted by the President to the Senate; C=number confirmed; %=percent confirmed.
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern
Mariana Islands.
b. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8 1981, at the start of the 97th
Congress, and withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan. 21, 1981.
c. Includes nine circuit court nominations submitted by President Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001, at the start
of the 107th Congress, and withdrawn by President George W. Bush on March 19, 2001.
d. Includes 20 district court nominations submitted by President George W. Bush between June 18, 2001 and
Aug. 2, 2001, which the Senate returned on Aug. 3, 2001, at the start of its August 2001 recess, and
which the President resubmitted as new nominations on Sept. 4, 2001.
e. Includes 20 circuit court nominations submitted by President Bush between May 9, 2001and Aug. 2, 2001,
which the Senate returned on Aug. 3, 2001, at the start of its August 2001 recess, and which the
President resubmitted as new nominations on Sept. 4, 2001. Excludes nine circuit nominations
submitted by President Clinton on Jan. 3, 2001 and Jan. 4, 2001 near the end of his presidential term —
all of which were withdrawn by President Bush on Mar. 19, 2001.

---

CRS-13
Table 2 (b). U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominees of
Five Most Recent Presidents (1977-August 1, 2003):
Number Nominated, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed
President
District Court
Circuit Court
District and Circuit
(Congresses, years)
Nominees a
Nominees
Combined
Jimmy Carter
N
224 b
61
285
(95th to 96th,
1977-1980)
C
206
56
262
%
92.0%
91.8%
91.9%
Ronald Reagan
N
309
94
403
(97th to 100th,
1981-1988)
C
292
83
375
%
94.5%
88.3%
93.1%
George H. W. Bush
N
189
53
242
(101st to 102nd,
1989-1992)
C
150
42
192
%
79.4%
79.2%
79.3%
William J. Clinton
N
352
91
443
(103rd to 106th,
1993-2000)
C
306
65
371
%
86.9%
71.4%
83.7%
George W. Bush
N
151
46
197
(107th to 108th,
2001-Aug. 1, 2003)
C
117
27
144
%
77.5%
58.7%
73.1%
Note: The cells in this table account only for the number of individuals who were nominees to U.S. District and
Circuit Court judgeships during each of the five most recent presidential administrations. The cells do not count
“re-submitted” nominations made when individuals were re-nominated to the same judgeship during a particular
presidency. By contrast, for an accounting of all nominations made to U.S. District and Circuit Court judgeships
(including “re-submitted” nominations), see the preceding Table 2 (a).
Legend: N=number submitted by the President to the Senate; C=number confirmed; %=percent confirmed.
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana
Islands.
b. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8 1981, at the start of the 97th
Congress, and withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan. 21, 1981.

---

CRS-14
Table 3. Total Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations of Five Most Recent Presidents
(1977-August 1, 2003), Broken Down by Final Actiona
District Court Nominations b
Circuit Court Nominations
President
Congresses
Con-
With-
Con-
With-
Returned
Rejectedc
Total
Returned
Rejectedc
Total
firmed
drawn
firmed
drawn
Jimmy Carter
95th - 96th
206
5d & e
17
0
228
56
1
4
0
61
Ronald Reagan
97th -100th
292
5
38 d
0
335
83
3
16d
0
102
George H. W. Bush
101st -102nd
150
1
48
0
199
42
0
12d
0
54
William J. Clinton
103rd -106th
307
8
66
1
382
65
12 f
38
0
115
George W. Bush
107th - 108th g
117
0
35
0
152 h
27
0
35 i
0
62 j
a. Final action covers one of four mutually exclusive outcomes: (1) confirmation by the Senate; (2) withdrawal of a nomination by the President; (3) Senate return of the nomination
to the President (upon a Senate adjournment or recess of more than 30 days), and (4) Senate rejection by a vote disapproving a nomination.
b. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
c. Counts only rejections voted by the full Senate. Six nominations which, over the 1977-2002 period, were defeated in committee (by Senate Judiciary Committee votes against
reporting the nominations to the Senate) are counted either in the “Withdrawn” or “Returned” columns, as indicated in table notes “d” and “g”.
d. Includes one nomination defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
e. Includes one nomination submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, at the start of the 97th Congress, and withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan. 21, 1981.
f. Includes nine circuit court nominations submitted by President Clinton on Jan. 3, 2001 and Jan. 4, 2001, at the start of the 107th Congress, and withdrawn by President George W.
Bush on March 19, 2001.
g. Current to Aug. 1, 2003.
h. Does not include 33 district court nominations pending as of Aug. 1, 2003 which, as of that date, had yet to receive final action.
i. Includes two nominations defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
j. Does not include 17 circuit court nominations pending as of Aug. 1, 2003 which, as of that date, had yet to receive final action.

---

CRS-15
Table 4 (a). U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations for Each Congress: Number Received,
Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed, 95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
District Court a
Circuit Court
District and Circuit combined
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Congress
Years
President
Received
Confirmed
Received
Confirmed
Received
Confirmed
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
95th
1977-78
Jimmy Carter
57
52
91.2%
12
12
100.0%
69
64
92.8%
96th
1979-80
170
154
90.6%
49
44
89.8%
219
198
90.4%
97th
1981-82
Ronald Reagan
71b
69
97.2%
20
19
95.0%
91
88
96.7%
98th
1983-84
79
61
77.2%
22
14
63.6%
101
75
74.3%
99th
1985-86
107
95
88.8%
34
33
97.1%
141
128
90.8%
100th
1987-88
80
67
83.8%
26
17
65.4%
106
84
79.2%
101st
1989-90
George H. W.
52
48
92.3%
23
22
95.7%
75
70
93.3%
Bush
102nd
1991-92
147
101
68.7%
31
20
64.5%
178
121
68.0%
103rd
1993-94
William J.
119
108
90.8%
22
19
86.4%
141
127
90.1%
Clinton
104th
1995-96
85
62
72.9%
20
11
55.0%
105
73
69.5%
105th
1997-98
95
80
84.2%
30
20
66.7%
125
100
80.0%
106th
1999-
83
57
68.7%
34
15
44.1%
117
72
61.5%
2000
107th
2001-02
George W.
118
83
70.3%
61c
17
27.9% d
179
100
55.9% e
Bush
108th
2003 f
67
34
50.7%
27
10
37.0%
94
44
46.8%
Note: The cells in this table account for all instances in which individuals were nominated to U.S. District and Circuit Court judgeships in the Congresses listed. The cells,
therefore, count not only the first instances in which individuals were nominated to District or Circuit judgeships during a Congress but also any “re-submitted” nominations

---

CRS-16
made when they were re-nominated to the same judgeship during the Congress. By contrast, for an accounting only of individuals nominated to U.S. District and Circuit
judgeships (excluding the number of “re-submitted” nominations), see the following Table 4(b).
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
b. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, near the end of his presidential term, and withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan. 21,
1981.
c. Includes nine circuit court nominations submitted by President William Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001, near the end of his presidential term — all of which were withdrawn
by President George W. Bush on Mar 19, 2001.
d. The confirmation percentage is 32.7% if the 9 circuit court nominations submitted by President Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001 (see preceding table note) are excluded from
the “Nominations Received” column, making the number in that column 52 instead of 61.
e. The confirmation percentage is 58.9% if the 9 circuit court nominations submitted by President Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001 (see preceding two table notes) are excluded
from the “Nominations Received” column, making the number in that column 170 instead of 179.
f. Current to Aug. 1, 2003.

---

CRS-17
Table 4 (b). Nominees to U.S. District and U.S. Circuit Court Judgeships During Each Congress: Number Nominated,
Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed, 95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
Congress
Years
President
District Court a
Circuit Court
District and Circuit Combined
Number of
Nominees
Number of
Nominees
Number of
Nominees
Nominees
Confirmed
Nominees
Confirmed
Nominees
Confirmed
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
95th
1977-78
Jimmy Carter
54
52
96.3%
12
12
100.0%
66
64
97.0%
96th
1979-80
169
153
90.5%
49
44
89.8%
218
197
90.4%
97th
1981-82
Ronald Reagan
71 b
69
97.2%
20
19
95.0%
91
88
96.7%
98th
1983-84
75
61
81.3%
19
14
73.7%
94
75
79.8%
99th
1985-86
100
95
95.0%
33
33
100.0%
133
128
96.2%
100th
1987-88
79
67
84.8%
26
17
65.4%
105
84
80.0%
101st
1989-90
George H. W. Bush
50
48
96.0%
23
22
95.7%
73
70
95.9%
102nd
1991-92
146
102
69.9%
31
20
64.5%
177
122
68.9%
103rd
1993-94
William J. Clinton
119
108
90.8%
22
19
86.4%
141
127
90.1%
104th
1995-96
85
62
72.9%
20
11
55.0%
105
73
69.5%
105th
1997-98
95
80
84.2%
30
20
66.7%
125
100
80.0%
106th
1999-2000
83
57
68.7%
34
15
44.1%
117
72
61.5%
107th
2001-02
George W. Bush
98 c
83
84.7%
40 d
17
42.5% e
138
100
72.5% f
108th
2003 g
67
34
50.7%
27
10
37.0%
94
44
46.8%
Note: The cells in this table account only for the number of individuals who were nominees to U.S. District and Circuit Court judgeships in any given Congress. The cells do not
count “re-submitted” nominations made when individuals were re-nominated to the same judgeship during the Congress. By contrast, for an accounting of all nominations made to
U.S. District and Circuit judgeships (including “re-submitted” nominations), see the preceding Table 4(a).
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

---

CRS-18
b. Includes 1 district court nominee nominated by President Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, near the end of his presidential term. The nomination was withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan.
21, 1981.
c. Twenty of the 98 district court nominees were nominated twice during the 107th Congress (thereby increasing the number of district court nominations received during the Congress
to 118). The 20 nominees saw the Senate return their first nominations at the start of the Senate’s August 2001 recess, but were all re-nominated by President George W. Bush
on Sept. 4, 2001.
d. This number includes 9 circuit court nominees nominated by President William J. Clinton on Jan. 3, 2001 and Jan. 4, 2001, near the end of his presidential term. All 9 of these
nominations were withdrawn by President George W. Bush on March 19, 2001. One of the 9 Clinton nominees, Roger L. Gregory, was re-nominated by President Bush, but
is counted only once in this column — as are 20 other circuit nominees nominated by President Bush twice in the 107th Congress..
e. The percentage of “Nominees Confirmed” is 53.1% if only President Bush’s 32 circuit nominees, including his resubmitted nomination of Roger L. Gregory, are included in the
“Number of Nominees” column and the 8 circuit nominees (other than Roger L. Gregory) who were nominated by President Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001 (see preceding table
note) are excluded.
f. The percentage of “Nominees Confirmed” is 76.9% if only President Bush’s 130 district court nominees are included in the “Number of Nominees” column and 8 nominees
nominated by President Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001 (see preceding table note) are excluded.
g. Current to Aug.1, 2003.

---

CRS-19
Table 5 (a). U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations for Each Session of Congress: Number Received,
Number Carried Over from First Session to Second Session, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
District Court Nominations a
Circuit Court Nominations
District and Circuit Combined
Congress
Pending Nominations
Confirmed
Pending Nominations
Confirmed
Pending Nominations
Confirmed
Year
(Session)
Rec’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
Rec’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
Rec’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
over b
over b
over b
95th
1st
1977
24
—
24
21
87.5%
10
—
10
10
100.0%
34
—
34
31
91.2%
2nd
1978
33
3
36
31
86.1%
2
0
2
2
100.0%
35
3
38
33
86.8%
96th
1st
1979
119
—
119
102
85.7%
39
—
39
34
87.2%
158
—
158
136
86.1%
2nd
1980
51
15
66
52
78.8%
10
4
14
10
71.4%
61
19
80
62
77.5%
97th
1st
1981
36c
—
36
33
91.7%
9
—
9
8
88.9%
45
—
45
41
91.1%
2nd
1982
35
2
37
36
97.3%
11
1
12
11
91.7%
46
3
49
47
95.9%
98th
1st
1983
33
—
33
28
84.8%
9
—
9
4
44.4%
42
—
42
32
76.2%
2nd
1984
46
4
50
33
66.0%
14
5
18
10
55.6%
60
9
68
43
63.2%
99th
1st
1985
70
—
70
62
88.6%
23
—
23
22
95.7%
93
—
93
84
90.3%
2nd
1986
37
8
45
33
73.3%
11
2
13
11
84.6%
48
10
58
44
75.9%
100th
1st
1987
52
—
52
33
63.5%
19
—
19
10
52.6%
71
—
71
43
60.6%
2nd
1988
28
19
47
34
72.3%
7
8
15
7
46.7%
35
27
62
41
66.1%
101st
1st
1989
16
—
16
10
62.5%
8
—
8
5
62.5%
24
—
24
15
62.5%
2nd
1990
36
6
42
38
90.5%
15
3
18
17
94.4%
51
9
60
55
91.7%
102nd
1st
1991
86
—
86
47
54.7%
17
—
17
9
52.9%
103
—
103
56
54.4%
2nd
1992
61
37
98
54
55.1%
14
7
21
11
52.4%
75
44
119
65
54.6%

---

CRS-20
District Court Nominations a
Circuit Court Nominations
District and Circuit Combined
Congress
Pending Nominations
Confirmed
Pending Nominations
Confirmed
Pending Nominations
Confirmed
Year
(Session)
Rec’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
Rec’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
Rec’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
over b
over b
over b
103rd
1st
1993
42
—
42
24
57.1%
5
—
5
3
60.0%
47
—
47
27
57.4%
2nd
1994
77
18
95
84
88.4%
17
2
19
16
84.2%
94
20
114
100
87.7%
104th
1st
1995
68
—
68
44
64.7%
16
—
16
9
56.3%
84
—
84
53
63.1%
2nd
1996
17
21
38
18
47.4%
4
5
9
2
22.2%
21
26
47
20
42.6%
105th
1st
1997
58
—
58
29
50.0%
21
—
21
7
33.3%
79
—
79
36
45.6%
2nd
1998
37
29
66
51
77.3%
9
13
22
13
59.1%
46
42
88
64
72.7%
106th
1st
1999
45
—
45
27
60.0%
25
—
25
7
28.0%
70
—
70
34
48.6%
2nd
2000
37
28
56
31
55.4%
9
18
27
8
29.6%
46
46
83
39
47.0%
107th
1st
2001
56
—
56
22
39.3%
58 d
—
58
6
10.3%
114
—
114
28
24.6%
2nd
2002
62
14
76
61
80.3%
3
23
26
11
42.3%
65
37
102
72
70.6%
108th
1st
2003 e
67
—
67
34
50.7%
27
—
27
10
37.0%
94
—
94
44
46.8%
Note: The cells in this table account for all instances in which individuals were nominated to U.S. District and Circuit Court judgeships in any given session of Congress. The cells,
therefore, count not only the first instances in which individuals were nominated to District or Circuit judgeships during the same session of Congress Congress but also any “re-
submitted” nominations made when they were re-nominated to the same judgeship during that session. By contrast, for an accounting only of individuals nominated to U.S. District
and Circuit judgeships (excluding the number of “re-submitted” nominations), see the following Table 5(b).
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
b. Counts nominations that were pending at the end of the first session of each Congress, and which the Senate, prior to adjourning for that session, agreed by unanimous consent
would remain in “status quo” and thus be carried over into the second session of the Congress as pending nominations.
c. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, near the end of his presidential term, and withdrawn by President Ronald Reagan on
Jan. 21, 1981.
d. Includes nine circuit court nominations submitted by President William J. Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001, near the end of his presidential term — all of which were withdrawn by
President George W. Bush on March 19, 2001.
e. Current to Aug. 1, 2003.

---

CRS-21
Table 5 (b). Nominees to U.S. District and Circuit Court Judgeships During Each Session of Congress:
Number Nominated, Number Whose Nominations Were Carried Over from First Session to Second Session,
Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed, 95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
District Court Nominees a
Circuit Court Nominees
District and Circuit Combined
Congress
Year
(Session)
Pending Nominees
Confirmed
Pending Nominees
Confirmed
Pending Nominees
Confirmed
Nom’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
Nom’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
Nom’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
over b
over b
over b
95th
1st
1977
24
—
24
21
87.5%
10
—
10
10
100.0%
34
—
34
31
91.2%
2nd
1978
30
3
33
31
93.9%
2
0
2
2
100.0%
32
3
35
33
94.3%
96th
1st
1979
118
—
118
102
86.4%
39
—
39
34
87.2%
157
—
157
136
86.6%
2nd
1980
51
15
66
51
77.3%
10
4
14
10
71.4%
61
19
80
61
76.3%
97th
1st
1981
36 c
—
36
33
91.7%
9
—
9
8
88.9%
45
—
45
41
91.1%
2nd
1982
35
2
37
36
97.3%
11
1
12
11
91.7%
46
3
49
47
95.9%
98th
1st
1983
33
—
33
28
84.8%
9
—
9
4
44.4%
42
—
42
32
76.2%
2nd
1984
42
4
46
33
71.7%
10
5
15
10
66.7%
52
9
61
43
70.5%
99th
1st
1985
70
—
70
62
88.6%
23
—
23
22
95.7%
93
—
93
84
90.3%
2nd
1986
30
8
38
33
86.8%
10
2
12
11
91.7%
40
10
50
44
88.0%
100th
1st
1987
52
—
52
33
63.5%
19
—
19
10
52.6%
71
—
71
43
60.6%
2nd
1988
27
19
46
34
73.9%
7
8
15
7
46.7%
34
27
61
41
67.2%
101st
1st
1989
16
—
16
10
62.5%
8
—
8
5
62.5%
24
—
24
15
62.5%
2nd
1990
34
6
40
38
95.0%
15
3
18
17
94.4%
49
9
58
55
94.8%
102nd
1st
1991
86
—
86
47
54.7%
17
—
17
9
52.9%
103
—
103
56
54.4%
2nd
1992
60
37
97
54
55.7%
14
7
21
11
52.4%
74
44
118
65
55.1%

---

CRS-22
District Court Nominees a
Circuit Court Nominees
District and Circuit Combined
Congress
Year
(Session)
Pending Nominees
Confirmed
Pending Nominees
Confirmed
Pending Nominees
Confirmed
Nom’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
Nom’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
Nom’d
Carry-
Total
No.
%
over b
over b
over b
103rd
1st
1993
42
—
42
24
57.1%
5
—
5
3
60.0%
47
—
47
27
57.4%
2nd
1994
77
18
95
84
88.4%
17
2
19
16
84.2%
94
20
114
100
87.7%
104th
1st
1995
68
—
68
45
66.2%
16
—
16
11
68.8%
84
—
84
56
66.7%
2nd
1996
17
21
38
17
44.7%
4
5
9
0
0.0%
21
26
47
17
36.2%
105th
1st
1997
58
—
58
29
50.0%
21
—
21
7
33.3%
79
—
79
36
45.6%
2nd
1998
37
29
66
51
77.3%
9
13
22
13
59.1%
46
42
88
64
72.7%
106th
1st
1999
45
—
45
27
60.0%
25
—
25
7
28.0%
70
—
70
34
48.6%
2nd
2000
38
28
56
31
55.4%
9
18
27
8
29.6%
47
46
83
39
47.0%
107th
1st
2001
36
—
36
22
61.1%
37 d
—
37
6
16.2%
73
—
73
28
38.4%
2nd
2002
62
14
76
61
80.3%
3
23
26
11
42.3%
65
37
102
72
70.6%
108th
1st
2003 e
67
—
67
34
50.7%
27
—
27
10
37.0%
94
—
94
44
46.8%
Note: The cells in this table account only for the number of individuals who were nominees to U.S. District and Circuit Court judgeships in any given session of Congress. The cells
do not count “resubmitted” nominations made when individuals were re-nominated to the same judgeship during the same session. By contrast, for an accounting of all nominations
made to U.S. District and Circuit judgeships (including “re-submitted” nominations), see the preceding Table 5(a).
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
b. Counts nominees whose nominations were pending at the end of the first session of each Congress and which the Senate, prior to adjourning for that session, agreed by unanimous
consent would remain in “status quo” and thus be carried over into the second session of the Congress as pending nominations.
c. Includes 1 district court nomination submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, near the end of his presidential term, and withdrawn by President Ronald Reagan on Jan. 21, 1981.
d. Includes 9 circuit court nominations submitted by President Clinton in Jan. 3, 2001 and Jan. 4, 2001, near the end of his presidential term — all of which were withdrawn by
President George W. Bush on March 19, 2001.
e. Current to Aug. 1, 2003.

---

CRS-23
Table 6. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations, 95th Congress to 108th Congress
(1977-August 1, 2003), Broken Down by Final Action a
District Court Nominations b
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
President
Con-
With-
Con-
With-
Returned
Rejectedc
Total
Returned
Rejectedc
Total
firmed
drawn
firmed
drawn
95th (1977-78)
Jimmy Carter
52
1
4
0
57
12
0
0
0
12
96th (1979-80)
154
3d
13
0
170
44
1
4
0
49
97th (1981-82)
Ronald Reagan
69
1e
1
0
71
19
0
1
0
20
98th (1983-84)
61
1
17
0
79
14
1
7
0
22
99th (1985-86)
95
1
11d
0
107
33
0
1
0
34
100th (1987-88)
67
3
10
0
80
17
2d
7
0
26
101st (1989-90)
George H. W.
48
0
3
0
51
22
0
1
0
23
Bush
102nd (1991-92)
101
1
45
0
147
20
0
11d
0
31
103rd (1993-94)
William J.
108
0
11
0
119
19
0
3
0
22
Clinton
104th (1995-96)
62
3
20
0
85
11
1
8
0
20
105th (1997-98)
80
4
11
0
95
20
1
9
0
30
106th (1999-
57
1
24
1
83
15
1
18
0
34
2000)
107th (2001-02)
George W.
83
0
35
0
118
17
9 f
35 g
0
61
Bush
108th (2003) h
34
0
0
0
34 i
10
0
0
0
10 j
a. Final action covers one of four mutually exclusive outcomes: (1) confirmation by the Senate; (2) withdrawal of a nomination by the President; (3) Senate return of the
nomination to President (upon a Senate adjournment or recess of more than 30 days); and (4) Senate rejection by a vote disapproving a nomination.
b. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

---

CRS-24
c. Counts only rejections voted by the full Senate. Six nominations which, over the 1977-2002 period, were defeated in committee (by Senate Judiciary Committee votes against
reporting the nominations to the Senate) are counted either in the “Withdrawn” or “Returned” columns, as indicated in the table notes “d” and “g”.
d. Includes one nomination defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
e. The nomination was submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, near the end of his presidential term, and withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan. 21, 1981.
f. The nine nominations were submitted by President Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001, near the end of his presidential term, and withdrawn by President George W. Bush on Mar.
19, 2001.
g. Includes two nominations defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
h. Current to Aug. 1, 2003.
i. Does not include 33 district court nominations pending as of Aug. 1, 2003 (on which final action was yet to be taken).
j. Does not include 17 circuit court nominations pending as of Aug. 1, 2003 (on which final action was yet to be taken),

---

CRS-25
Table 7. U.S. District Court and Circuit Court Nominations: Number Pending at End of Each Congress,a
and Their Percentage of All Nominations Received During That Congress,
95th Congress to 107th Congress (1977-2002)
District Court Nominationsb
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
Years
President
Pending w/o
Other
Total
% of all
Pending w/o
Other
Total
% of all
hearingc
pendingd
pending
received
hearingc
pendingd
pending
received
95th
1977-78
Jimmy Carter
0
1
1
1.8%
0
0
0
N/A
96th
1979-80
7
6
13
7.7%
0
4
4
8.2%
97th
1981-82
Ronald Reagan
1
0
1
1.4%
1
0
1
5.0%
98th
1983-84
5
8
13
16.5%
1
2
3
13.6%
99th
1985-86
2
1
3
2.8%
0
0
0
N/A
100th
1987-88
4
6
10
12.7%
5
2
7
26.9%
101st
1989-90
George H. W. Bush
3
0
3
5.9%
1
0
1
4.3%
102nd
1991-92
43
0
43
29.3%
9
1
10
32.3%
103rd
1993-94
William J. Clinton
9
2
11
9.2%
2
1
3
13.6%
104th
1995-96
12
8
20
23.5%
3
5
8
40.0%
105th
1997-98
6
5
11
11.6%
6
3
9
30.0%
106th
1999-2000
23
1
24
28.9%
15
2
17
50.0%
107th
2001-02
George W. Bush
15
0
15
12.7%
12
3
15
24.6%
95th - 107th Totals
130
38
168
28.9%
55
23
78
50.0%
a. Includes, for 97th to the 107th Congress, all nominations pending and not finally acted upon at the time of the final adjournment of each Congress.
b. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
c. Nominations pending at end of Congress which had not received a committee hearing.
d. Nominations pending at end of Congress which had received a committee hearing.

---

CRS-26
Table 8. U.S. District Court and Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number of Days Elapsing
from Nomination Date to Final Action,a 95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
Congress
District Court nominations b
Circuit Court nominations
(Years)
Confirmed c
Unconfirmed d
Combined e
Confirmed c
Unconfirmed d
Combined e
95th (1977-78)
40
35
40
33
N/A
33
96th (1979-80)
79
168
89
79
157
87
97th (1981-82)
33
10
32
34
8
33
98th (1983-84)
31
35
32
51
34
49
99th (1985-86)
42
49
43
50
11
49
100th (1987-88)
122
217
136
119
273
172
101st (1989-90)
77
69
76
79
185
83
102nd (1991-92)
114
172
130
108
296
174
103rd (1993-94)
76
104
77
103
94
102
104th (1995-96)
112
255
149
124
243
194
105th (1997-98)
165
303
185
212
345
262
106th (1999-2000)
133
328
192
227
364
304
107th (2001-2002)
127
39
99
210
160
169
108th (2003) f
81
—
—
96
—
—
a. Final action covers one of four mutually exclusive outcomes: (1) confirmation by the Senate; (2) withdrawal of a nomination by the President; (3) Senate
return of the nomination to President (upon a Senate adjournment or recess of more than 30 days); and (4) Senate rejection by a vote disapproving a
nomination.
b. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

---

CRS-27
c. Average number of days, rounded to nearest whole number, elapsing from nomination date to confirmation date.
d. Average number of days, rounded to nearest whole number, elapsing from nomination date to final action date of unconfirmed nominations (i.e., date on
which they were returned to the President, withdrawn by the President, or rejected by the Senate).
e. Average number of days, rounded to nearest whole number, elapsing from nomination date to final action date of both confirmed and unconfirmed
nominations.
f. Current to Aug. 1, 2003. Averages are not provided for unconfirmed nominations in the 108th Congress, because as of Aug. 1, 2003 all of the unconfirmed
nominations were pending nominations (and thus had yet to receive final action).

---

CRS-28
Table 9. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee,
Receiving Committee Hearings, Committee Vote, and Senate Vote, by Congress,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
District Court Nominationsa
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
President
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
95th (1977-78)
Jimmy Carter
57
52
53
52
12
12
12
12
96th (1979-80)
170
164
155
154
49
48
44
44
97th (1981-82)
Ronald Reagan
71c
69
69
69
20
19
19
19
98th (1983-84)
79
69
67
61
22
18
15
14
99th (1985-86)
107
93
96
95
34
31
33
33
100th (1987-88)
80
75
68
67
26
20
20
17
101st (1989-90)
George H. W. Bush
52
48
48
48
23
22
22
22
102nd (1991-92)
147
102
102
101
31
22
21
20
103rd (1993-94)
William J. Clinton
119
110
108
108
22
20
19
19
104th (1995-96)
85
70
65
62
20
16
15
11
105th (1997-98)
95
85
83
80
30
24
22
20
106th (1999-2000)
83
57
58
58
34
15
15
15
107th (2001-02)
George W. Bush
118
83
83
83
61 d
24
19
17
108th (2003) e
67
47
41
34
27
15
15
10

---

CRS-29
Note: In some of the Congresses above, one or more nominees received a hearing on their nominations in one Congress, only to be re-nominated in the next Congress and have
a committee vote and Senate vote on their re-submitted nomination. Usually, in these cases, the Judiciary Committee did not hold a hearing on the re-submitted nomination if
a hearing had already been held on the nominee in the preceding Congress. This carryover of actions on particular nominees (with a hearing held in one Congress, and votes
by the Judiciary Committee and/or the Senate in the next Congress) explains why, in some of the Congresses, the number of nominations receiving a hearing is smaller than the
number of nominations voted on by committee and by the Senate.
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
b. A nomination receiving more than one hearing is counted just once in its particular “received hearing” column. Similarly, a nomination receiving more than one committee
vote, either on the same day or on different days, is counted just once in its “voted on by committee” column.
c. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, near the end of his presidential term, and withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan. 21, 1981.
d
d. Includes nine circuit court nominations submitted by President Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001, at the end of his presidential term — all of which were withdrawn by President
George W. Bush on March 19, 2001.
e. Current to Aug. 1, 2003.

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CRS-30
Table 10. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee,
Receiving Committee Hearings, Committee Vote, and Senate Vote, by Year,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
District Court Nominationsa
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
Year
(President)
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
95th (Carter)
1977
24
20
21
21
10
10
10
10
1978
33
32
32
31
2
2
2
2
Total
57
52
53
52
12
12
12
12
96th (Carter)
1979
119
103
102
102
39
36
34
34
1980
51
61
53
52
10
12
10
10
Total
170
164
155
154
49
48
44
44
97th (Reagan)
1981
36c
33
33
33
9
8
8
8
1982
35
36
36
36
11
11
11
11
Total
71
69
69
69
20
19
19
19
98th (Reagan)
1983
33
29
29
28
8
6
4
4
1984
46
40
38
33
14
12
11
10
Total
79
69
67
61
22
18
15
14

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CRS-31
District Court Nominationsa
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
Year
(President)
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
99th (Reagan)
1985
70
58
62
62
23
20
22
22
1986
37
35
34
33
11
11
11
11
Total
107
93
96
95
34
31
33
33
100th (Reagan)
1987
52
35
33
33
19
13
11
10
1988
28
40
35
34
7
7
9
7
Total
80
75
68
67
26
20
20
17
101st (Bush,
1989
16
12
12
10
8
5
5
5
George H. W.)
1990
36
36
36
38
15
17
17
17
Total
52
48
48
48
23
22
22
22
102nd (Bush,
1991
86
47
47
47
17
10
10
9
George H. W.)
1992
61
55
55
54
14
12
11
11
Total
147
102
102
101
31
22
21
20
103rd (Clinton)
1993
42
26
25
24
5
3
3
3
1994
77
84
83
84
17
17
16
16
Total
119
110
108
108
22
20
19
19

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CRS-32
District Court Nominationsa
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
Year
(President)
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
104th (Clinton)
1995
68
45
45
44
16
12
12
9
1996
17
25
20
18
4
4
3
2
Total
85
70
65
62
20
16
15
11
105th (Clinton)
1997
58
36
36
29
21
11
8
7
1998
37
49
47
51
9
13
14
13
Total
95
85
83
80
30
24
22
20
106th (Clinton)
1999
45
28
29
27
25
10
12
7
2000
38
29
29
31
9
5
3
8
Total
83
57
58
58
34
15
15
15
107th (Bush,
2001
56
27
26
22
58 d
7
6
6
George W.)
2002
62
56
57
61
3
14
14
11
Total
118
83
83
83
61
21
20
17
108th (Bush,
2003 e
67
47
41
34
27
15
15
10
George W.)
Total
67
47
41
34
27
15
15
10
Note: In most of the Congresses above, nominations pending at the end of the first session remained in “status quo” and, by unanimous consent of the Senate, were carried
over into the second session as pending nominations. The carryover of nominations into the second session sometimes resulted during the second session in more
nominations receiving a hearing, a committee vote, or a Senate vote than those being referred to committee. As well, in a few instances, the carryover of nominations from

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CRS-33
a first session resulted, during a second session, in more nominations receiving a Senate vote than those receiving a committee vote or in more nominations receiving
a committee vote than those receiving a committee hearing.
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
b. A nomination receiving more than one hearing is counted just once in its particular “received hearing” column. Similarly, a nomination receiving more than one
committee vote, either on the same day or on different days, is counted just once in its “voted on by committee” column.
c. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, near the end of his presidential term, and withdrawn by President Reagan on Jan.
21, 1981.
d
... Includes nine circuit court nominations submitted by President William Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001, at the end of his presidential term — all of which were withdrawn
by President George W. Bush on March 19, 2001.
e. Current to Aug. 1,2003.

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CRS-34
Table 11. U.S. District Court and Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number of Days Elapsing from
Nomination Date to Hearing, Committee Action, and Final Action,a
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
Congress
District Court Nominations b
Circuit Court Nominations
(Years)
Hearing c
Committee Vote c
Final Action c
Hearing c
Committee Vote c
Final Action c
95th (1977-78)
23
37
40
21
29
33
96th (1979-80)
57
76
89
46
74
87
97th (1981-82)
21
29
32
23
30
33
98th (1983-84)
16
26
32
19
36
49
99th (1985-86)
24
34
43
22
35
49
100th (1987-88)
90
112
136
92
115
172
101st (1989-90)
56
71
76
61
76
83
102nd (1991-92)
93
110
130
82
94
174
103rd (1993-94)
59
72
77
78
95
102
104th (1995-96)
80
79
149
88
105
194
105th (1997-98)
116
128
185
171
182
262
106th (1999-2000)
100
107
192
131
151
304
107th (2001-02)
84
104
99
161
183
169
108th (2003) d
71
83
92
69
75
125
a. Final action covers one of four mutually exclusive outcomes: (1) confirmation by the Senate; (2) withdrawal of a nomination by the President; (3) Senate return of
the nomination to President (upon a Senate adjournment or recess of more than 30 days); and (4) Senate rejection by a vote disapproving a nomination. Every
nomination submitted to the Senate during the 1977-Aug. 1, 2003 time frame of this table received one of the four forms of final action, except for nominations
in the 108th Congress that were pending as of Aug. 1, 2003.
b. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

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CRS-35
c. Average number of days, rounded to nearest whole number, elapsing from nomination date to the procedural action in this column (hearing, committee action or final
action). Nominations not receiving a hearing, a committee vote or (in the case of nominations in the 108th Congress that were pending as of Aug. 1, 2003) final
action, were excluded from the calculations of these respective time lapse averages.
d. Current to Aug. 1, 2003.

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CRS-36
Table 12. U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations: Annual Percent Confirmed When One Party Controls
Both Presidency and Senate (‘Unified Government’), versus When One Party Controls Presidency and
Other Controls Senate (‘Divided Government’), 95th Congress to 107th Congress (1977-2002)
President
Congress
Year
Government
District Court Nominations a
Circuit Court Nominations
District and Circuit Combined
(Party)
(Session)
Pendingb
Confirmed
Pendingb
Confirmed
Pendingb
Confirmed
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
Jimmy
95th
1st
1977
Unified
24
21
87.5%
10
10
100.0%
34
31
91.2%
Carter (D)
2nd
1978
36
31
86.1%
2
2
100.0%
38
33
86.8%
96th
1st
1979
119
102
85.7%
39
34
87.0%
158
136
87.0%
2nd
1980
66
52
78.8%
14
10
71.4%
80
62
77.5%
Totals
244
206
84.4%
65
56
86.2%
310
262
84.5%
Ronald
97th
1st
1981
Unified
36c
33
91.7%
9
8
88.9%
45
41
91.1%
Reagan
(R)
2nd
1982
37
36
97.3%
12
11
91.7%
49
47
95.9%
98th
1st
1983
33
28
84.8%
9
4
44.4%
42
32
76.2%
2nd
1984
50
33
66.0%
18
10
55.6%
68
43
63.2%
99th
1st
1985
70
62
88.6%
23
22
95.7%
93
84
90.3%
2nd
1986
45
33
73.3%
13
11
84.6%
58
44
75.9%
Totals
271
225
83.0%
84
66
79.0%
355
291
82.0%
100th
1st
1987
Divided
52
33
63.5%
19
10
52.6%
71
43
60.6%
2nd
1988
47
34
72.3%
15
7
46.7%
62
41
66.1%
Totals
99
67
67.7%
34
17
50.0%
133
84
63.2%

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CRS-37
President
Congress
Year
Government
District Court Nominations a
Circuit Court Nominations
District and Circuit Combined
(Party)
(Session)
Pendingb
Confirmed
Pendingb
Confirmed
Pendingb
Confirmed
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
George H.
101st
1st
1989
Divided
16
10
62.5%
8
5
62.5%
24
15
62.5%
W. Bush
(R)
2nd
1990
42
38
90.5%
18
17
94.4%
60
55
91.7%
102nd
1st
1991
86
47
54.7%
17
9
52.9%
103
56
54.4%
2nd
1992
98
54
55.1%
21
11
52.4%
119
65
54.6%
Totals
242
149
61.6%
64
42
65.6%
306
191
62.4%
William J.
103rd
1st
1993
Unified
42
24
57.1%
5
3
60.0%
47
27
57.4%
Clinton
(D)
2nd
1994
95
84
88.4%
19
16
84.2%
114
100
87.7%
Totals
137
108
78.8%
24
19
79.2%
161
127
78.9%
104th
1st
1995
Divided
68
44
64.7%
16
9
56.3%
84
53
63.1%
2nd
1996
38
18
47.4%
9
2
22.2%
47
20
42.6%
105th
1st
1997
58
29
50.0%
21
7
33.3%
79
36
45.6%
2nd
1998
66
51
77.3%
22
13
59.1%
88
64
72.7%
106th
1st
1999
45
27
60.0%
25
7
28.0%
70
34
48.6%
2nd
2000
56
31
55.4%
27
8
29.6%
83
39
47.0%
Totals
331
200
60.4%
120
46
38.3%
451
246
54.5%

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CRS-38
President
Congress
Year
Government
District Court Nominations a
Circuit Court Nominations
District and Circuit Combined
(Party)
(Session)
Pendingb
Confirmed
Pendingb
Confirmed
Pendingb
Confirmed
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
George W.
107th
1st
2001
Unified
2
0
0.0%
16 d
0
0.0%
18
0
0.0%
Bush (R)
Totals
2
0
0.0%
16
0
0.0%
18
0
0.0%
1st
2001
Divided e
56
22
39.3%
58 f
6
10.3%
114
28
24.6%
2nd
2002
76
61
80.3%
26
11
42.3%
102
72
70.6%
Totals
136
83
61.0%
116
17
14.7%
252
100
39.7%
a. Includes nominations to the Territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
b. For each Congress, the nominations left pending at the end of the first session, and which the, Senate, prior to adjourning for that session, agreed by unanimous consent would
remain in “status quo,” are carried over into the second session totals.
c. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 8, 1981, near the end of his presidential term, and withdrawn by President Ronald Reagan
on Jan. 21, 1981.
d. Includes 16 circuit court nominations submitted by President Bush on May 9, 21, 22, and 25, 2001 (before the switch from Republican to Democratic Party control of the Senate
on June 5, 2001), which the Senate returned at the start of the August 2001 recess and which the President resubmitted as new nominations on Sept. 4, 2001. Does not include
nine circuit court0 nominations submitted by President William J. Clinton on Jan. 3 and 4, 2001 near the end of his presidential term — all of which were withdrawn by
President George W. Bush on March 19, 2001.
e. The switch in party affiliation of Senator James Jeffords of Vermont on June 5, 2001, from Republican to Independent, caused Senate party control in the 107th Congress to switch
from Republican to Democratic, in turn causing the change from “unified government” to “divided government,” as indicated in this table.
f. Includes 6 circuit court nominations submitted by President Bush on June 21 and 22, July 16, and Aug 2, 2001 (all after the party switch in the Senate) — which the Senate
returned at the start of the August 2001 recess and which the President resubmitted as new nominations on Sept. 4, 2001.

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CRS-39
Table 13. Votes by Senate Judiciary Committee on U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Other Than
Those Agreeing to Report Favorably, 95th Congress to the 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)
Congress
Nominee
Court
Motion/Vote
Final Outcome
95th
Robert F. Collins
U.S. District Court,
Report favorably, 5-5, 04/14/78 (subsequent motion
Confirmed by Senate, voice vote,
Eastern Louisiana
to report favorably, on 05/16/78, approved, 13-1)
05/17/78
96th
Charles B. Winberry, Jr.
U.S. District Court,
Report favorably, 6-8, 03/04/80
Nomination withdrawn, 08/06/80
North Carolina
99th
Daniel A. Manion
U.S. Court of Appeals,
Report favorably, 9-9; report without
Confirmed by Senate, 48-46,
Seventh Circuit
recommendation, 11-6, 05/08/86
06/26/86
99th
Jefferson B. Sessions
U.S. District Court,
Report favorably, 8-10; report without
Nomination returned, 12/20/85
Southern Alabama
recommendation, 9-9, 06/05/86
100th
Susan W. Liebeler
U.S. Court of Appeals,
Report favorably, 6-7; report without
Nomination returned, 10/22/88
Federal Circuit
recommendation, 8-5, 02/23/88
100th
Bernard H. Siegan
U.S. Court of Appeals,
Report favorably, 6-8; report without
Nomination withdrawn, 09/16/88
Ninth Circuit
recommendation, 7-7, 07/14/88
102nd
Kenneth L. Ryskamp
U.S. Court of Appeals,
Report favorably, 6-8; report without
Nomination returned, 08/02/91
Eleventh Circuit
recommendation, 7-7, 04/11/91
107th
Charles W. Pickering, Sr.
U.S. Court of Appeals,
Report favorably 9-10; report without
Nomination returned, 11/20/02
Fifth Circuit
recommendation, 9-10; and report unfavorably, 9-10,
03/14/02
107th
Priscilla Richman Owen
U.S. Court of Appeals,
Report favorably, 9-10; report without
Nomination returned, 11/20/02
Fifth Circuit
recommendation, 9-10; and report unfavorably, 9-10,
09/05/02
108th
J. Leon Holmes
U.S. District Court,
Report without recommendation, 10-9, 05/01/03
Nomination pending a
Eastern Arkansas
Note: A vote by the Judiciary Committee on a nomination is treated as other than favorable if: (1) a majority of the committee voted against a motion to report the nomination favorably;
(2) a motion to report favorably failed on a tie vote; (3) the vote was on a motion to report the nomination without recommendation; or (4) the vote was on a motion to report the
nomination unfavorably (i.e., with a recommendation that the Senate not confirm the nomination).
a. As of Aug. 1, 2003.

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CRS-40
Table 14. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Re-submitted in a Succeeding Congress
After Nominations of Same Persons in a Previous Congress Failed to Be Confirmed,
95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)a
President
Congress
Number of Re-Submitted Nominations Received and Confirmed by Senate
First
Re-submitted
District Court
Circuit Court
nomination
nomination
Received
Confirmed
Received
Confirmed
Jimmy Carter
95th
96th
—
—
—
—
96th
97th
3
2
—
—
Ronald Reagan
97th
98th
1
1
1
0
98th
99th
12
12
3
3
99th
100th
2
2
—
—
100th
101st
6
4
—
—
George H. W. Bush
101st
102nd
2
1
1
0
102nd
103rd
3
3
—
—
William J. Clinton
103rd
104th
6
5
3
3
104th
105th
16
12
7
5
105th
106th
7
3
5
3
106th
107th
—
—
9
1
George W. Bush
107th
108th
14
6
13
5
a. At the final adjournment of a Congress, pending nominations not having received Senate confirmation are returned to the President. It is not uncommon, however, for a President,
in the case of such returned nominations, to re-nominate the nominees (or “re-submit” the nomination) during the subsequent Congress. This table accounts for all such re-
submissions of district and circuit court nominations during the period from 1977 to Aug. 1, 2003.

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CRS-41
Table 15. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations in a Congress That Were Re-Submitted
Within the Same Congress, 95th Congress to 108th Congress (1977-August 1, 2003)a
President
Congress
Re-Submitted Nominations
District Court
Circuit Court
Nominations
Confirmed
Nominations
Confirmed
Jimmy Carter
95th
3
3
—
—
96th
1
1
—
—
Ronald Reagan
97th
—
—
—
—
98th
5
4
3
2
99th
8
7
1
1
100th
—
—
—
—
George H. W. Bush
101st
—
—
—
—
102nd
1
1
—
—
William J. Clinton
103rd
—
—
—
—
104th
—
—
—
—
105th
—
—
—
—
106th
—
—
—
—
George W. Bush
107th
20
20
21b
12 c
108th d
—
—
—
—
a. This table accounts for the number of instances in which Presidents from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush re-nominated individuals to particular judgeships during
the same Congress. These instances typically arose when, prior to the final adjournment of a Congress, the Senate returned a nomination to the President upon
a Senate recess or adjournment of more than 30 days, thus affording the President an opportunity to “re-submit” the nomination in the same Congress.
b. Includes re-nomination by President George W. Bush on May 9, 2001 of Roger L. Gregory to the Fourth Circuit. Gregory initially had been nominated by President
William J. Clinton on Jan 3, 2001, at the start of the 107th Congress but near the end of the Clinton presidency. Although the nomination was withdrawn by
President Bush on March 19, 2001, he subsequently re-submitted the nomination, which the Senate confirmed on July 19, 2001.
c. Includes confirmation by the Senate of Roger L. Gregory to the Fourth Circuit on July 19, 2001. See preceding note.
d. Current to Aug. 1, 2003

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