Mr. Mooch Crunches the Numbers for You and I Run it All Down for You.

Have you heard the moans of complaint over how the MEAN ole Democrats are blocking President Bush's judicial nominees? This has agitated the GOP to such a degree that they have considered doing away with the time honored Senatorial tool, the filabuster (See Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). This has been nicknamed the "Nuclear Option" because of how serious and final such a decision would be to the Senate.

Well, here's a rundown on just how "bad" it has been for our poor President and his judges:

The Federal Judiciary has 871 judges. The Senate has approved 205 of Bush's nominees. How many have they blocked? 10. TEN!

So, let's get this straight. the GOP is upset because they only got their way 95% of the time! More importantly, this president, in his first 4 years, has filled nearly 1/4 of the Judiciary with his own conservative judges. The disgust I have isn't because this is happening, it is because (to the GOP) this is simply NOT ENOUGH! at this rate, you could see (by 2008) 1/3 to 1/2 of the US Judiciary installed by ONE MAN. I don't like the looks of that at all (regardless of political party).

Along the same line, it is important to note that GOP appointees currently dominate all of the Judiciary. The US Supreme Court has 7 GOP appointees and 2 Democratic. There are 13 Federal circuits and the GOP nominees dominate 10 of them. It is predicted that 12 of the 13 will be dominated by GOP appointees by the end of Bush's term. The real concern for me is that the more recent GOP nominees are MUCH more ideologically bent than, say, an appointee from the Nixon era. Our judicial system is being hijacked.


10 of the 13 appellate circuits. By the time Bush's second term ends, Republicans will almost certainly dominate 12 of the 13 circuit courts, leaving only the Ninth Circuit in Democratic control.