Nan Aron of the Alliance For Justice notes that officially, because judges are retiring faster than Obama is nominating them and the Senate is confirming them, the number of judicial vacancies is higher than it was at the beginning of the year.
To make matters worse, there are 115 vacancies (114 at the beginning of the year), but only 57 nominees pending before the Senate. Obama's confirmation rate for judges is 62 percent, far lower than his two predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who had confirmations rates of 84 percent and 72 percent respectively. Now Republican obstruction is largely to blame here, but when was the last time you heard Obama or anyone else from the administration use the phrase "up or down vote?"
