Editorial: Empty benches

When the Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, her status as the first Hispanic justice wasn't the only noteworthy part of the story.

She was also the first judicial nominee at any level to be approved by the Senate since President Obama took office.

And since confirming Sotomayor on Aug. 6, the Senate has approved only one other nominee for the entire federal judiciary.

Meanwhile, there are 94 vacancies for federal judges nationwide. Seven are in the Third Circuit, which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. An additional 26 federal judges are expected to leave their posts by the end of next year.

Among those awaiting confirmation hearings are Joseph Greenway Jr. of New Jersey, nominated June 19 to fill a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated in 2006 when Justice Samuel Alito joined the Supreme Court; and U.S. District Judge Thomas Venaskie of Scranton, a friend of Sen. Robert Casey's family, nominated to the Third Circuit as well.

The slow pace of filling federal judgeships is building to a crisis. The Obama administration and Senate leaders need to work together more rapidly and effectively for the sake of a responsive justice system.

The president has been slower than his predecessor in sending nominations to the Senate. Obama has nominated only 18 candidates so far for lifetime judgships, or 19 percent of the vacant seats. In contrast, George W. Bush had submitted nominees for 46 percent of the open judicial seats by the same time in his first year in office.

Much of Obama's caution is a response to an overly hostile Senate GOP. Democrats control the Senate. But Republicans are doing everything they can to slow down Obama's nominations, including threats of filibusters and anonymous "holds" on nominees. The gridlock has extended to presidential appointments to cabinet agencies, including the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.

Some Republican senators are in a snit because Obama would not renominate holdovers from the Bush administration; others are still holding a grudge against Obama for his votes while a senator opposing Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. These are weak reasons to bring the entire process to a halt.

The Senate GOP isn't even adhering to its own alleged principles on judicial nominations. Republicans told Obama they would accept a nominee only if he or she had the blessing of the Republican senator in the candidate's home state. But they are stalling the nomination of Judge David Hamilton, who has the approval of Sen. Richard Lugar (R., Ind.) for a seat on the Seventh Circuit Court.

Senate leaders in both parties need to work together to prevent partisan gridlock from erupting into a crisis for the judiciary.