BERRIEN
COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
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The Constitution is very clear on the need for three separate branches of government. In order to provide the necessary checks and balances among the three branches, the Constitution gives the president the authority to nominate individuals to the Supreme Court and to other federal courts, and it gives the Senate the important role of carefully evaluating judicial nominees and exercising independent judgment in deciding whether to confirm them.
The Senate's constitutional responsibility to advise and consent on the president's nominations to the federal courts is particularly important given that these are lifetime positions. While some have suggested that the Senate unfairly abused its advice and consent role to obstruct Bu$h's judicial nominees, the facts do not support such a claim.
In the GOP-controlled Congress, over 200 of Bu$h's nominees were considered by the full Senate. Only six (6) of these failed to achieve confirmation. That 97 percent confirmation rate of Bu$h's nominees has resulted in the lowest vacancy rate in the federal courts in over 13 years. This contrasts with the dozens of Clinton nominees who were held up by the GOP in the last six years of the Clinton administration - 60 nominees were denied even Judiciary Committee votes.
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JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS