Judicial Nomination Statistics: U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1945-1976

Judicial Nomination Statistics: U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1945-1976

Order Code RL32122
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Judicial Nomination Statistics:
U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1945-1976
October 22, 2003
Mitchel A. Sollenberger
Analyst in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

Judicial Nomination Statistics:
U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1945-1976
Summary
Statistics regarding procedural actions taken, from nomination through
confirmation, on U.S. district and circuit court nominations have been compiled by
CRS for the period January 3, 1945 through October 1, 1976. The statistics are
complete for the 79th through the 94th Congresses (1945-1976). Among other things,
the statistics for the 1945-1976 period show:
! During the Administrations of Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy,
Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, the Senate confirmation percentage for district and
circuit court nominations combined never went below 75%.
! The President with the highest confirmation percentage for district and circuit
court nominations combined was Richard M. Nixon with 97.9%, and the
President with the lowest confirmation percentage was Harry S Truman with
75.1% agreement.
! The great majority of each President’s nominations were either confirmed or
returned. An average of two nominations per President were withdrawn. Four
nominations were disapproved by a Senate vote during that period.
! The confirmation percentage for district and circuit court nominations
combined was greater than 81% for every Congress from the 79th through the
94th, except the 80th, 81st, and 82nd Congresses.
! The only time the average number of days elapsing between nomination date
and confirmation exceeded 63 days was in the 86th Congress.
! During the 1945-1976 period, no Congress averaged over 100 days between
nomination dates and hearing, committee vote, or Senate vote.
! The Senate returned substantially more nominations during the 81st and 87th
Congresses than during any other Congress in the 1945-1976 period.
! The vast majority of judicial nominations submitted during the 1945-1976
period received committee hearings and votes, as well as full Senate votes.
During the 81st Congress, however, there was a reduction in the share of
nominations receiving committee and Senate action.
! Four of the six nominations that failed to receive a vote to report favorably
from the Judiciary Committee were reported adversely to the Senate floor,
where all four were rejected by a voice vote.
This report will not be updated. However, the statistical tables in this report can
be compared with corresponding tables in CRS Report RL31635, Judicial
Nomination Statistics: U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1977-2003, by Denis Steven
Rutkus and Mitchel A. Sollenberger.

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Procedural Steps for Judicial Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Methodology in Preparing Statistical Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Statistical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Data Collected by CRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Resubmitted Nominations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Selecting Federal Judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Overview of the Statistical Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
List of Tables
Table 1. U.S. District and Circuit Court Judgeships: Number Authorized,
Number of Courts, by Year, 1945-1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Table 2. U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations from Presidents Truman
to Ford (1945-1976): Number Submitted, Number Confirmed, and
Percent Confirmed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Table 3. Total Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations,
79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976),
Broken Down by Final Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Table 4. U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations for Each Congress:
Number Received, Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed,
79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Table 5. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations,
Congress by Congress, 79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976),
Broken Down by Final Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Table 6. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Referred to
Senate Judiciary Committee, Receiving Committee Hearings,
Committee Vote, and Senate Vote, by Congress,
79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Table 7. U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number of Days
Elapsing from Nomination Date to Hearing, Committee Action,
and Confirmation, 79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976) . . . . . . . . . . 18
Table 8. Votes by Senate Judiciary Committee on U.S. District and Circuit Court
Nominations Other than Those Agreeing to Report Favorably,
79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Judicial Nomination Statistics:
U.S. District and Circuit Courts, 1945-1976
Introduction1
Congress has devoted much attention to the lower federal court confirmation
process in recent years. Various CRS reports are now available that explore this
process.2 In particular, CRS Report RL31635, Judicial Nomination Statistics: U.S.
District and Circuit Courts, 1977-2003, by Denis Steven Rutkus and Mitchel A.
Sollenberger, provides statistical tables for recent years. This report provides similar
statistics concerning actions taken on U.S. district and circuit court nominations from
January 3, 1945, to October 1, 1976.
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 in the
appointment of Supreme Court justices.3 The process 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
1 This report was built on the research and writing done for earlier statistical reports by
Denis Steven Rutkus and Mitchel A. Sollenberger.
2 See CRS Report RL31948, Evolution of the Senate’s Role in the Nomination and
Confirmation Process: A Brief History, by Betsy Palmer; CRS Report RS21506,
Implications for the Senate of President Bush’s Proposal on Judicial Nominations, by Betsy
Palmer; CRS Report RL31112, Recess Appointments of Federal Judges, by Louis Fisher;
CRS Report RL32013, The History of the Blue Slip in the Senate Committee on the
Judiciary, 1917-Present, by Mitchel A. Sollenberger; CRS RL31868, U.S. Circuit and
District Court Nominations by President George W. Bush During the 107th Congress, by
Denis Steven Rutkus and Mitchel A. Sollenberger; and CRS Report RS20986, Senate
Confirmation Process: An Overview, by Lorraine H. Tong.
3 See CRS Report RL31989, Supreme Court Appointment Process: Roles of the President,
Judiciary Committee, and Senate, by Denis Steven Rutkus; and CRS Report RS20986,
Senate Confirmation Process: An Overview, by Lorraine H. Tong.

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simple majority vote. If the Senate votes in the negative on whether to confirm, a
resolution of disapproval is forwarded to the President.4
As with nominations in general, 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,
it 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.5
Methodology in Preparing Statistical Tables
In the following pages, eight tables provide statistics concerning procedural
actions that were taken on U.S. district court and U.S. court of appeals nominations
during the period January 3, 1945, through October 1, 1976. The time period begins
with the convening of the 79th Congress and carries through the second session of the
94th Congress. The period coincides with the terms in office of Presidents Harry S
Truman (79th-82nd Congresses), Dwight D. Eisenhower (83rd-86th Congresses), John
F. Kennedy (87th-88th Congresses), Lyndon B. Johnson (88th-90th Congresses),
Richard M. Nixon (91st-93rd Congresses), and Gerald R. Ford (93rd-94th Congresses).
Depending on the table, statistics are broken down by year, presidency, or Congress.
Statistical Considerations. The reader should be aware that certain tables
may use different statistical calculations. Table titles and footnotes should be closely
monitored in order to guide the reader through the data and calculations used for each
table. In particular, the footnotes will be invaluable when comparing similar data
from different tables because of the uniqueness of some of the calculations. For
example, Table 2 and Table 3 appear to calculate the same data; however, they do
it in different ways. Table 2 calculates the total number of nominations submitted
and confirmed by President, whereas Table 3 calculates the number of nominations
confirmed, withdrawn, returned, and rejected by groups of Congresses.
One result of ordering data by President or by Congress is the appearance of the
same information in different places. In Table 2, if a President nominates an
individual at the end of his term and during the first few days of a new Congress, that
information will go into the nominated column. In Table 3, however, the same
information will likely go into a different column because the data are arranged by
groups of Congresses and not by President.
This anomaly results because a
4 For further reading regarding the Senate’s role in the consideration of judicial nominations,
see CRS Report RL31980, Senate Consideration of Presidential Nominations: Committee
and Floor Procedure, by Elizabeth Rybicki.
5
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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President’s term in office ends the January after the presidential election has
occurred. Since the Congress convenes in January, the outgoing President has time
to submit judicial nominations. These submitted nominations are therefore totaled
into the succeeding President’s first Congress. An example would be President
Truman.
During his presidency, he submitted 156 district court nominations;
however, the Congresses that sat during his presidency (79th-82nd) considered only
154.
Two were submitted to the 83rd Congress just prior to the Eisenhower
inauguration.
Data Collected by CRS. The following tables, except Table 1,6 were
generated from a CRS database of nomination dates and actions created by the
author. The data for the CRS database were collected from the 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 to judgeships in the U.S. district courts (including the territorial district
courts) and the U.S. courts of appeals. The U.S. court of appeals system, often called
the circuit court system, is currently composed of 12 geographic circuits and an
additional nationwide circuit having specialized subject matter jurisdiction. (Note:
from 1945 to 1976 there were only 11 geographic circuits and no specialized
nationwide circuit.) 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 companion
report to CRS Report RL31635, Judicial Nomination Statistics: U.S. District and
Circuit Courts, 1977-2003, by Denis Steven Rutkus and Mitchel A. Sollenberger.
Although this report focuses on an earlier time period (1945-1976), it also takes a
comparative look — from presidency to presidency and from Congress to Congress
— 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.
The primary focal points for data collection were the dates and actions taken on
nominations, not individuals nominated.
In instances where an individual was
nominated more than once to a particular judgeship, each nomination was counted
and entered into the calculations for nomination totals, confirmation percentages, and
other statistics. Tables presenting the average number of days taken to act on
nominations (from nomination date to committee hearing, committee vote, or
confirmation vote) do not measure the overall time that a particular individual was
6 Table 1 was built on the research and data collection of CRS intern Oluwabusayo Folarin
and the website of the Federal Judicial Center, Washington, DC.

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in nominee status over the course of two or more nominations; rather, they measure
separately the times (in days) that elapsed for each of the nominations involved.
Resubmitted Nominations.
It should be recognized that data solely
concerned with nominations, as opposed to individuals nominated, can arguably
result in misleading calculations if individuals are nominated to the same judgeship
more than once, either during the same Congress or during successive Congresses.
A substantial number of “resubmitted” nominations, it may be argued, may create an
exaggerated statistical sense of how many individuals were nominated, and how
many nominees, or what percentage of nominees, failed to gain confirmation.
Conversely, resubmitted nominations may serve to skew downward calculations of
the average time taken on nominations in the appointment process: Resubmissions
of nominations within a Congress will cause, for time averaging purposes, the overall
time in which each individual in question was in nominee status to be divided by two
or more time segments, rather than by just one. Likewise, time averages are lowered
by taking separate measurements of a nomination made in one Congress and the
resubmitted nomination in the next Congress, rather than by measuring the overall
time that the nominee in question was in nominee status. During the time period of
this study (1945-1976), however, resubmissions of judicial nominations were rare.
Selecting Federal Judges. The tables below provide judicial nomination
and confirmation data that cover a time period (1945-1976) that is also examined in
a 1997 book by Sheldon Goldman, a professor of political science at the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst. In his book Picking Federal Judges,7 Goldman
describes and analyzes the selection process, looking at presidential decision making
from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan (1933-1989). A principle purpose of
Goldman’s book is to understand the character of a President’s confirmed judicial
nominees, and how those nominees were received and processed by the Senate.
Hence, this report and Picking Federal Judges are similar in covering most of the
same Presidents (Truman to Ford) and also in showing, in varying ways, the outcome
of each President’s successful judicial selections.
Unlike this report, however, Picking Federal Judges presents specific
descriptive information (i.e., race, sex, education, occupation, political party, and
religion) concerning the overall makeup and character of the judicial nominees
confirmed during each presidency (FDR to Reagan). For its part, this report provides
more detailed information concerning the actual steps the Presidents’ judicial
selections (Truman to Ford) went through in the Senate. The nominations and steps
are measured in a variety of ways. For instance, this report counts hearings and
committee votes, as well as Senate votes and other final actions, on every district and
circuit court nomination a President submits, and determines time-lapse averages not
only between nomination and Senate confirmation, but also between nomination and
hearing, and nomination and committee vote.
7 Sheldon Goldman, Picking Federal Judges (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997).

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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 that
were vacant at a specified time each year. Also, the notes to Table 1 indicate when
legislation was enacted, or when other developments occurred that changed the
number of judgeships authorized by law.
Tables 2 and 3 provide a presidency-by-presidency breakdown of judicial
nomination and confirmation statistics for the1945-1976 period. Table 2 presents
the number of district and circuit court nominations submitted by each President and
the number and percentage of these nominations confirmed by the Senate. The table
reveals that, over the course of six successive presidencies, the confirmation
percentage for district and circuit court nominations combined never went below
75%. Table 2 also shows that Presidents Johnson and Nixon were the only two
Presidents to have a confirmation percentage of 90% or better for both district and
circuit court nominations during their presidencies.
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 of 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 1945-1976 period were either confirmed or
returned, that there was an average of two withdrawals per presidency, and that the
Senate voted its disapproval of a nomination four times per presidency.
Table 4 presents, by Congress, the number of district and circuit court
nominations received by the Senate, and the number and percent of those
nominations confirmed. Table 4 indicates that during six Congresses (the 81st, 83rd,
87th, 89th, 91st, and 92nd), significantly more nominations were received by the Senate
than during other Congresses studied. In five of these six Congresses, a statute
creating new judgeships had been enacted. (The precise number of judgeships
created by each statute is given in source notes to Table 1.) Table 4 also shows for
the 1945-1976 period that only the 80th Congress had a confirmation percentage
below 70% for either district or circuit nominations combined.
Table 5 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 of more than 30 days; and Senate rejection by a vote
disapproving a nomination. The table shows that during Congresses coinciding with
the presidencies of Harry S Truman and John F. Kennedy (81st and 87th Congresses,
respectively), the Senate returned substantially more judicial nominations (27 during
the 81st Congress and 19 during the 87th Congress) than during any other Congress
in the 1945-1976 period.

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Tables 6 and 7 provide statistics for committee action, as well as for Senate or
other final action, in the judicial appointment process. Table 6 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 7 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 confirmation vote. The
table shows, among other things, that the 84th, 85th, and 86th Congresses were the only
Congresses in the time period of this study during which an average of 58 days or
more elapsed between nomination dates and confirmation votes on district and circuit
court nominations combined.
Table 8 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 1945-1976 period on motions made to report
a circuit or district court nomination adversely or without recommendation, as well
as motions to report favorably that 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 8 shows that of the six nominations not receiving a favorable committee vote,
the Judiciary Committee reported four of the nominations to the Senate adversely,
had a tie vote to report favorably on one nomination, and voted to table the other.

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Table 1. U.S. District and Circuit Court Judgeships:
Number Authorized, Number of Courts, by Year, 1945-1976
District Courtsa
Circuit Courts
District and Circuit
Year
Combined
Authorized Number
Authorized
Number
Authorized
Number
Judgeships of Courts
Judgeships of Courts
Judgeships
of Courts
1945
194
89
59
11
253
100
1946b
197
89
59
11
256
100
1947c
196
89
59
11
255
100
1948
196
89
59
11
255
100
1949d
217
89
65
11
282
100
1950e
221
90
65
11
286
101
1951
221
90
65
11
286
101
1952
221
90
65
11
286
101
1953
221
90
65
11
286
101
1954f
244
90
68
11
312
101
1955
244
90
68
11
312
101
1956
244
90
68
11
312
101
1957g
245
90
68
11
313
101
1958h
246
91
68
11
314
102
1959i
247
92
68
11
315
103
1960
247
92
68
11
315
103
1961j
311
92
78
11
389
103
1962k
311
93
78
11
389
104
1963
311
93
78
11
389
104
1964
311
93
78
11
389
104
1965l
311
92
78
11
389
103
1966m
341
94
88
11
429
105
1967
341
94
88
11
429
105
1968n
341
94
97
11
438
105
1969
341
94
97
11
438
105
1970o
401
94
97
11
498
105
1971p
398
95
97
11
495
106
1972
398
95
97
11
495
106
1973
398
95
97
11
495
106
1974
398
95
97
11
495
106
1975
398
95
97
11
495
106
1976
398
95
97
11
495
106
Sources: Authorized judgeships for each year were obtained from the “History of the Federal
Judiciary” website of the Federal Judicial Center, Washington, DC, at [http://www.fjc.gov], visited
June 25, 2003. Table note citations to statutes creating new judgeships, as well as computation of the
number of courts, are based on research by CRS intern Oluwabusayo Folarin.
a. U.S. district courts include the territorial courts.
b. P.L. 79-415 (June 15, 1946), 60 Stat. 260, and P.L. 79-530 (July 24, 1946), 60 Stat. 654,
created two permanent and one temporary district court judgeships.
c. P.L. 79-530, creating the temporary district judgeship, expired at the close of the 79th Congress.
d. P.L. 81-27 (March 29, 1949), 63 Stat. 16, and P.L. 81-205 (Aug. 3, 1949), 63 Stat. 493, created
21 district court and six circuit court judgeships.
e. P.L. 81-632 (Aug. 1, 1950), 64 Stat. 389, and P.L. 81-691 (Aug. 14, 1950), 63 Stat. 443, created
three district court judgeships and an additional district court for the state of Oregon.

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f. P. L. 83-294 (Feb. 10, 1954), 68 Stat. 8, created 23 district court and three circuit court
judgeships.
g. P.L. 85-310 (1957), created one district court judgeship.
h. P.L. 85-508 (July 7, 1958), 72 Stat. 348, created a district court judgeship in the new district
court created at the time of Alaska statehood.
i. P.L. 86-3 (March 18, 1959), created an additional district court judgeship in the new district
court created at the time of Hawaii statehood.
j. P.L. 87-36 (May 19, 1961), 75 Stat. 80, created 64 district court and 10 circuit court judgeships.
k. P.L. 87-562 (1962), created an additional district court for Florida by adding the Middle
District.
l. P.L. 89-242 (1965), combined the Eastern and Western Districts of South Carolina into the
South Carolina District.
m. P.L. 89-372 (March 18, 1966), 80 Stat. 75, created 30 district court and 10 circuit court
judgeships. In addition, P.L. 89-372 created two additional district courts for California by
adding the Eastern and Central Districts.
n. P.L. 90-347 (June 18, 1968), 82 Stat. 184, created nine additional circuit court judgeships.
o. P.L. 91-272 (June 2, 1970), 84 Stat. 294, created 59 additional district court judgeships.
p. Three temporary judgeships created by P.L. 91-272 was never converted to a permanent
position. P.L. 92-208 (1971) created an additional district court for Louisiana by adding the
Middle District.

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Table 2. U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations from
Presidents Truman to Ford (1945-1976): Number Submitted,
Number Confirmed, and Percent Confirmed
President
District Court
Circuit Court
District and Circuit
(Congress, years)
Nominationsa
Nominations
Combined
Harry S Truman
N
156b
33
189
(79th — 82nd,
1945-1952)
C
115
27
142
%
73.7%
81.8%
75.1%
Dwight D. Eisenhower
N
162c
51
213
(83rd — 86th,
1953-1960)
C
137d
46
183
%
84.6%
90.2%
85.9%
John F. Kennedy
N
126
26
152
(87th — 88th,
1961-1963)
C
108
21
129
%
85.7%
80.8%
84.9%
Lyndon B. Johnson
N
134
43f
177
(88th — 90th,
1963-1968)
C
122
40
162
%
91.0%
93.0%
91.5%
Richard M. Nixon
N
186
49
235
(91st — 93rd,
1969-1974)
C
184
46
230
%
98.9%
93.9%
97.9%
Gerald R. Ford
N
59
15
74
(93rd — 94th,
1974-1976)
C
50
11
61
%
84.7%
73.3%
82.4%
Note: The five district court judges selected by President Roosevelt before his death at beginning of the 79th
Congress are not used in the calculation of the number of nominated or confirmed judges during Harry S
Truman’s presidency.
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 two district court nominations submitted by President Truman on Jan. 9, 1953, at the start of the 83rd
Congress, and withdrawn by President Eisenhower on July 24 and Aug. 3, 1953.
c. Includes three district court nominations submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of
the 87th Congress. The Senate returned one nomination on Sept. 27, 1961, and confirmed the other two on
Aug. 9 and Sept. 21, 1961.
d. Includes two district court nominations submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of the
87th Congress, and confirmed by the Senate on Aug. 9 and Sept. 21, 1961.
e. Includes four district court nominations submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the
91st Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon on Jan. 23, 1969.
f. Includes one circuit court nomination submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st
Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon on Jan. 23, 1969.

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Table 3. Total Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations,
79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976), Broken Down by Final Actiona
District Court Nominationsb
Circuit Court Nominations
Congresses
(President)
Con-
With-
Rejectedc &
Con-
With-
Rejectedc &
Returned
Total
Returned
Total
firmed
drawn
Returned
firmed
drawn
Returned
79th - 82nd
115
0
35d
4e
154f
27
1
5
0
33
(Truman)
83rd - 86th
135
5g
22h
0
162
46
0
5
0
51
(Eisenhower)
87th - 88th
108
0
18
0
126
21
0
5
0
26
(Kennedy)
88th - 90th
122
0
8
0
130i
40
0
2
0
42j
(Johnson)
91st - 93rd
184
4k
2
0
190l
46
2m
2
0
50n
(Nixon)
93rd - 94th
50
1o
8
0
59
11
0
4
0
15
(Ford)
Totals 79th - 94th
714
10
93
4
823
191
3
23
0
217
Note: This table does not include President Roosevelt’s five district court judgeship selections before his death in the 79th Congress.
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.
c. Counts only rejections voted by the full Senate.
d. The four nominations that were rejected by the Senate are included in the Rejected & Returned column.
e. All four nominations rejected by the Senate had been reported unfavorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
f. Does not include two district court nominations submitted by President Truman on Jan. 9, 1953, at the start of the 83rd Congress, and withdrawn by President
Eisenhower on July 24 and Aug. 3, 1953. Thus, in this instance, there is a difference of two in the total number of district court judges nominated in Table
2 and the number in the total column in this table.
g. Includes two district court nominations submitted by President Truman on Jan. 9, 1953, at the start of the 83rd Congress, and withdrawn by President
Eisenhower on July 24 and Aug. 3, 1953.

CRS-11
h. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of the 87th Congress, and returned by the Senate on Sept.
27, 1961.
i. Does not include the four district court nominations submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by
President Nixon on Jan. 23, 1969. Therefore, there is a difference of four in the total number of district court judges nominated in Table 2 and the number
in the total column in this table.
j. Does not include the one circuit court nomination submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President
Nixon on Jan. 23, 1969.
k. Includes four district court nominations submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon
on Jan. 23, 1969.
l. The inclusion of the four district court nominations submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by
President Nixon on Jan. 23, 1969, has increased the total number by four. Therefore, there is a difference of four in the total number of district court judges
nominated in Table 2 and the number in the total column in this table.
m. Includes one circuit court nomination submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon on
Jan. 23, 1969.
n. The inclusion of the one circuit court nomination submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President
Nixon on Jan. 23, 1969, has increased the total number by one. Therefore, there is a difference of one in the total number of district court judges nominated
in Table 2 and the number in the total column in this table.
o. Includes one nomination tabled by the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 5, 1976, and withdrawn by President Ford on June 7, 1976.

CRS-12
Table 4. U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations for Each Congress: Number Received, Number Confirmed,
and Percent Confirmed, 79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976)
District Courta
Circuit Court
District and Circuit Combined
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Congress
Years
President
Received
Confirmed
Received
Confirmed
Received
Confirmed
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
79th
1945-46
Harry S Truman
25
25
100.0%
8
7
87.5%
33
32
97.0%
80th
1947-48
25
16
64.0%
3
3
100.0%
28
19
67.9%
81st
1949-50
78
54
69.2%
20
15
75.0%
98
69
70.4%
82nd
1951-52
26
20
76.9%
2
2
100.0%
28
22
78.6%
83rd
1953-54
Dwight D.
52b
44
84.6%
13
12
92.3%
65 b
56
86.2%
Eisenhower
84th
1955-56
36
31
86.1%
13
11
84.6%
49
42
85.7%
85th
1957-58
31
26
83.9%
12
11
91.7%
43
37
86.0%
86th
1959-60
42
34
81.0%
13
12
92.3%
55
46
83.6%
87th
1961-62
John F.
109c
95 d
87.2%
22
17
77.3%
131c
112d
85.5%
Kennedy
88th
1963-64
John F.
31
26
83.9%
7
7
100.0%
38
33
86.8%
Kennedy/
Lyndon B.
Johnson
89th
1965-66
Lyndon B.
68
64
94.1%
26
25
96.2%
94
89
94.7%
Johnson
90th
1967-68
51
47
92.2%
13
12
92.3%
64
59
92.2%
91st
1969-70
Richard M.
75e
70
93.3%
23f
20
87.0%
98e, f
90
91.8%
Nixon
92nd
1971-72
80
80
100.0%
18
18
100.0%
98
98
100.0%

CRS-13
District Courta
Circuit Court
District and Circuit Combined
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Nominations
Congress
Years
President
Received
Confirmed
Received
Confirmed
Received
Confirmed
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
93rd
1973-74
Richard M.
47
46
97.9%
13
10
76.9%
60
56
93.3%
Nixon/
Gerald R. Ford
94th
1975-76
Gerald R. Ford
47
38
80.9%
11
9
81.8%
58
47
81.0%
Totals 79th - 94th
823
716
—
217
191
—
1040
907
—
Note: This table does not include President Roosevelt’s five district court judgeship selections before his death in the 79th Congress.
a. Includes nominations to the territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
b. Includes two district court nominations submitted by President Truman on Jan. 9, 1953, at the start of the 83rd Congress, and withdrawn by President Eisenhower on July
24 and Aug. 3, 1953.
c. Includes three district court nominations submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of the 87th Congress. The Senate returned one nomination on
Sept. 27, 1961, and confirmed the other two on Aug. 9 and Sept. 21, 1961.
d. Includes two district court nominations submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of the 87th Congress, and confirmed by the Senate on Aug. 9 and
Sept. 21, 1961.
e. Includes four district court nominations submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon on Jan. 23,
1969.
f. Includes one circuit court nomination submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon on Jan. 23,
1969.

CRS-14
Table 5. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations, Congress by Congress,
79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976), Broken Down by Final Actiona
District Court Nominationsb
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
President
Con-
With-
Rejectedc &
Con-
With-
Rejectedc &
Returned
Total
Returned
Total
firmed
drawn
Returned
firmed
drawn
Returned
79th (1945-46)
Harry S Truman
25
0
0
0
25
7
1
0
0
8
80th (1947-48)
16
0
9
0
25
3
0
0
0
3
81st (1949-50)
54
0
22
2
78
15
0
5
0
20
82nd (1951-52)
20
0
4
2
26
2
0
0
0
2
83rd (1953-54)
Dwight D.
44
2d
6
0
52
12
0
1
0
13
Eisenhower
84th (1955-56)
31
0
5
0
36
11
0
2
0
13
85th (1957-58)
26
1
4
0
31
11
0
1
0
12
86th (1959-60)
34
2
6
0
42
12
0
1
0
13
87th (1961-62)
John F. Kennedy
95e
0
14f
0
109
17
0
5
0
22
88th (1963-64)
John F.
26
0
5
0
31
7
0
0
0
7
Kennedy/
Lyndon B.
Johnson
89th (1965-66)
Lyndon B.
64
0
4
0
68
25
0
1
0
26
Johnson
90th (1967-68)
47
0
4
0
51
12
0
1
0
13

CRS-15
District Court Nominationsb
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
President
Con-
With-
Rejectedc &
Con-
With-
Rejectedc &
Returned
Total
Returned
Total
firmed
drawn
Returned
firmed
drawn
Returned
91st (1969-70)
Richard M.
70
4g
1
0
75
20
2h
1
0
23
Nixon
92nd (1971-72)
80
0
0
0
80
18
0
0
0
18
93rd (1973-74)
Richard M.
46
0
1
0
47
10
0
3
0
13
Nixon/
Gerald R. Ford
94th (1975-76)
Gerald R. Ford
38
1
8
0
47
9
0
2
0
11
Totals 79th - 94th
716
10
93
4
823
191
3
23
0
217
Note: This table does not include President Roosevelt’s five district court judgeship selections before his death in the 79th Congress.
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. Two nominations that, over the 1945-1976 period, were defeated in committee (by Senate Judiciary Committee votes
against reporting the nominations to the Senate) are counted in either the “Withdrawn” or the “Returned” columns, as indicated in the table notes.
d. Includes two district court nominations submitted by President Truman on Jan. 9, 1953, at the start of the 83rd Congress, and withdrawn by President Eisenhower on July
24 and Aug. 3, 1953.
e. Includes two district court nominations submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of the 87th Congress, and confirmed by the Senate on Aug. 9 and
Sept. 21, 1961.
f. Includes one district court nomination submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of the 87th Congress, and returned by the Senate on Sept. 27, 1961.
g. Includes four district court nominations submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon on Jan. 23,
1969.
h. Includes one circuit court nomination submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon on Jan. 23,
1969.

CRS-16
Table 6. Number of U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee,
Receiving Committee Hearings, Committee Vote, and Senate Vote, by Congress,
79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976)
District Court Nominationsa
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
President
Referred
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
to
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
Committee
79th (1945-46)
Harry S Truman
25c
20
28d
25
8
8
7
7
80th (1947-48)
25
21
16
16
3
3
3
3
81st (1949-50)
78
52
56
56
20
12
15
15
82nd (1951-52)
26
19
22
22
2
2
2
2
83rd (1953-54)
Dwight D.
52e
39
44
44
13
10
12
12
Eisenhower
84th (1955-56)
36
28
31
31
13
11
11
11
85th (1957-58)
31
24
26
26
11
7
10
10
86th (1959-60)
42
33
34
34
13
12
12
12
87th (1961-62)
John F. Kennedy
109f
94
95
95g
22
17
17
17
88th (1963-64)
John F.
31
25
26
26
7
7
7
7
Kennedy/
Lyndon B.
Johnson
89th (1965-66)
Lyndon B.
68
63
64
65
26
23
24
25
Johnson
90th (1967-68)
51
48
47
47
13
13
13
12

CRS-17
District Court Nominationsa
Circuit Court Nominations
Congress
President
Referred
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
Referred to
Received
Voted on by
Voted on
to
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
Committee
Hearingb
Committeeb
by Senate
Committee
91st (1969-70)
Richard M.
75h
68
70
70
23i
19
20
20
Nixon
92nd (1971-72)
80
76
80
80
18
17
18
18
93rd (1973-1974)
Richard M.
47
46
46
46
13
11
10
10
Nixon/
Gerald R. Ford
94th (1975-1976)
Gerald R. Ford
47
40
38
38
11
11
10
9
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 resubmitted nomination. Usually, in these cases, the Judiciary Committee did not hold a
hearing on the resubmitted 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. Does not include the five district court nominations submitted by President Roosevelt on Jan. 3 and 22, and March 12 and 30, 1945, before his death on
April 12, 1945.
d. Does not include the one President Roosevelt nomination defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
e. Includes two district court nominations submitted by President Truman on Jan. 9, 1953, at the start of the 83rd Congress, and withdrawn by President
Eisenhower on July 24 and Aug. 3, 1953.
f. Includes three district court nominations submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of the 87th Congress. The Senate returned one
nomination on Sept. 27, 1961 and confirmed the other two on Aug. 9 and Sept. 21, 1961.
g. Includes two district court nominations submitted by President Eisenhower on Jan. 10, 1961, at the start of the 87th Congress, and confirmed by the Senate
on Aug. 9, and Sept. 21, 1961.
h. Includes four district court nominations submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President
Nixon on Jan. 23, 1969.
i. Includes one circuit court nomination submitted by President Johnson on Jan. 10, 1969, at the start of the 91st Congress, and withdrawn by President Nixon
on Jan. 23, 1969.

CRS-18
Table 7. U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations: Average Number of Days Elapsing from Nomination Date to
Hearing, Committee Action, and Confirmation, 79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976)
Congress
District Court Nominationsa
Circuit Court Nominations
(Years)
Hearingb
Committee Voteb
Confirmationb
Hearingb
Committee Voteb
Confirmationb
79th (1945-46)
11
22
17
17
17
20
80th (1947-48)
18
41
48
13
32
42
81st (1949-50)
35
49
51
42
42
44
82nd (1951-52)
31
32
36
13
14
15
83rd (1953-54)
16
24
26
15
22
23
84th (1955-56)
34
41
42
37
54
58
85th (1957-58)
20
22
26
37
41
42
86th (1959-60)
59
96
98
59
85
86
87th (1961-62)
26
32
33
17
28
32
88th (1963-64)
42
44
46
27
38
40
89th (1965-66)
16
24
26
16
25
25
90th (1967-68)
29
39
41
18
33
42
91st (1969-70)
28
31
32
21
35
40
92nd (1971-72)
18
23
23
27
28
28
93rd (1973-1974)
20
26
27
17
18
19
94th (1975-1976)
30
36
38
22
34
36
Note: This table does not include President Roosevelt’s five district court judgeship selections before his death in the 79th Congress.
a. Includes nominations to the territorial district courts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
b. Average number of days, rounded to nearest whole number, elapsing from nomination date to the procedural action in this column (hearing, committee action, or confirmation).

CRS-19
Table 8. Votes by Senate Judiciary Committee on U.S. District and Circuit Court Nominations
Other than Those Agreeing to Report Favorably, 79th Congress - 94th Congress (1945-1976)
Congress
Nominee
Court
Motion/Vote
Final Outcome
Table
Report
Report Without
Report
Favorably
Recommendation
Unfavorably
79th
Nathan Ross
U.S. District Court
—
6-6,
—
—
Nomination
Margold
for the District of
07/30/45a
returned,
Columbia
08/01/45
81st
M. Neil Andrews
U.S. District Court,
—
07/31/50b
—
07/31/50c
Rejected by
Northern Georgia
Senate,
voice vote,
08/09/50
81st
Carroll D. Switzer
U.S. District Court,
—
07/31/50d
—
07/31/50e
Rejected by
Southern Iowa
Senate,
voice vote,
08/09/50
82nd
Joseph Drucker
U.S. District Court,
—
09/17/51f
—
10/08/51f
Rejected by
Northern Illinois
Senate,
voice vote,
10/09/51
82nd
Cornelius J.
U.S. District Court,
—
09/17/51g
—
10/08/51g
Rejected by
Harrington
Northern Illinois
Senate,
voice vote,
10/09/51
94th
William B. Poff
U.S. District Court,
9-0, 05/05/76h
—
—
—
Nomination
Western Virginia
withdrawn,
06/07/76
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).

CRS-20
a. Legislative and Executive Calendar, Committee on the Judiciary, 79th Cong., 1st sess., p. 86.
b. Neither the Legislative and Executive Calendar on the Judiciary Committee nor the Congressional Record reports a vote total for Andrews. See Legislative and Executive
Calendar, Committee on the Judiciary, 81st Cong., 2nd sess., p. 454.
c. The Legislative and Executive Calendar indicates that Chairman Pat McCarran reported Andrews out of committee adversely. Author assumes that the final committee vote was
for a motion to report unfavorably. See Legislative and Executive Calendar, Committee on the Judiciary, 81st Cong., 2nd sess., p. 454.
d. Neither the Legislative and Executive Calendar on the Judiciary Committee nor the Congressional Record reports a vote total for Switzer. See Legislative and Executive
Calendar, Committee on the Judiciary, 81st Cong., 2nd sess., p. 454.
e. The Legislative and Executive Calendar indicates that Chairman Pat McCarran reported Andrews out of committee adversely. We assume that the final committee vote was for a
motion to report unfavorably. See Legislative and Executive Calendar, Committee on the Judiciary, 81st Cong., 2nd sess., p. 454.
f. The Legislative and Executive Calendar indicates that on Sept. 17, 1951, a motion to report favorably was defeated and that a second motion to report unfavorably was also
defeated; however, on Oct. 8, 1951, the calendar reports that the committee disapproved Drucker’s nomination but then reported him out on the same day. This third vote,
although not stated in the calendar, tends to suggest that the committee held a second motion to report unfavorably. See Legislative and Executive Calendar, Committee on the
Judiciary, 82nd Cong., 1st sess., p. 553.
g. The Legislative and Executive Calendar indicates that on Sept. 17, 1951, a motion to report favorably was defeated and that a second motion to report unfavorably was also
defeated; however, on Oct. 8, 1951, the calendar reports that the committee disapproved Harrington’s nomination but then reported him out on the same day. This third vote,
although not stated in the calendar, tends to suggest that the committee held a second motion to report unfavorably. See Legislative and Executive Calendar, Committee on the
Judiciary, 82nd Cong., 1st sess., p. 553.
h. Legislative and Executive Calendar, Committee on the Judiciary, 94th Cong., 2nd sess., p. 247. For more information concerning the committee vote, see CQ Inside Congress,
“‘Senatorial Courtesy’ Derails Ford Judgeship Nomination,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, vol. 34, no. 18, May 8, 1976, p. 1124.