During President Bill Clinton's first and second terms of office, he nominated 24 people for 20 federal appellate judgeships but the nominees were not processed by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. Three of the nominees who were not processed (Christine Arguello, Andre M. Davis and S. Elizabeth Gibson) were nominated after July 1, 2000, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. Democrats claim that Senate Republicans of the 106th Congress purposely tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Republican president to fill them. Of the 20 seats in question, four were eventually filled with different Clinton nominees, fourteen were later filled with Republican nominees by President George W. Bush and two continued to stay open during Bush's presidency. Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the United States Senate during the 110th Congress, and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee under Reid, repeatedly mentioned the controversy over President Clinton's court of appeals nominees during the controversy involving the confirmation of Republican court of appeals nominees during the last two years of Bush's second term. Republicans claimed that Democrats were refusing to confirm certain longstanding Bush nominees in order to allow a future Democratic president in 2009 to fill those judgeships.
During his presidency, Clinton also nominated 45 people for 42 federal district judgeships who were never confirmed by the United States Senate and successfully nominated 66 people for appellate judgeships.
List of unsuccessful federal judicial nominations
Clinton made 72 nominations for federal judgeships that were not confirmed by the Senate. Of these, one, Ronnie L. White, was rejected by the Senate, 11 were withdrawn by President Clinton, 10 were withdrawn by President George W. Bush, while the other 50 expired at an adjournment of the Senate, including 32 that were pending at the close of the 106th Congress. Eleven of his unsuccessful nominees were subsequently nominated to federal judgeships by other presidents, and all 11 were confirmed.
Andre M. Davis (of Maryland), to seat vacated by Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. - Davis was nominated on October 6, 2000, during the final months of the Clinton presidency. The Senate took no action on the nomination, which was returned to the President on December 15, 2000. After Clinton's unsuccessful nomination of Davis, President George W. Bushunsuccessfully nominated Claude Allen and Rod J. Rosenstein to succeed Judge Murnaghan. Davis was renominated to the same seat by President Barack Obama in April 2009 and confirmed that year in November.
S. Elizabeth Gibson (of North Carolina), to seat vacated by Samuel James Ervin III - Gibson was nominated on October 26, 2000, during the final months of the Clinton presidency. The Senate took no action on the nomination, which was returned to the President on December 15, 2000. The judgeship was later filled by Bush nominee Allyson Kay Duncan.
Christine Arguello (of Colorado), to seat vacated by John Carbone Porfilio - Arguello was nominated on July 27, 2000, shortly after Clinton withdrew his earlier nomination of James Lyons. The Senate took no action on the nomination, which was returned to the President on December 15, 2000. The judgeship was later filled by Bush nominee Timothy M. Tymkovich. Arguello was eventually confirmed to a district court seat when nominated by Bush in 2008.
Others who were nominated or considered for nomination to federal appellate courts
While not a controversy, one other Clinton appellate court nominee, Barbara Durham, withdrew before being confirmed, but not because of Republican opposition. Rather, Durham, a conservative jurist whom Clinton nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as part of a deal with then-Washington Sen. Slade Gorton, withdrew because of illness. Clinton instead nominated Republican lawyer Richard Tallman of Seattle to the seat to which he had nominated Durham, and Tallman was confirmed in 2000.
During his presidency, Clinton nominated 45 people for 42 different federal district judgeships to federal district courts who were never confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Like the appellate court nominations mentioned above, many of these nominees were blocked by Republicans either in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was controlled by Republicans for six of the eight years of Clinton’s presidency, or on the Senate floor, where one nominee, Ronnie L. White, was defeated by senators.
Of the 42 federal district judgeship vacancies in question, 17 eventually were filled with different Clinton nominees, 24 were filled by nominees of President George W. Bush and one never ended up becoming vacant because the district judge holding it never received confirmation to be elevated to an appellate court. Of Clinton's 45 failed district court nominees, four, Legrome D. Davis, David S. Cercone, Dolly M. Gee and Sue E. Myerscough, subsequently were nominated by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to federal district judgeships and then confirmed by the Senate.
David S. Cercone (judgeship was to become vacant when Judge Robert J. Cindrich was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit but Cindrich never was confirmed to that post before Clinton's presidency ended; Cercone later was nominated to a different seat in the Western District by Bush and then confirmed by the Senate)
Sue E. Myerscough (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Michael P. McCuskey) (Myerscough later renominated by President Obama to a different seat on the same court and confirmed in 2011)
Ronnie L. White(Nomination rejected by the Senate) (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee Henry Autrey; White later was nominated and confirmed to a different seat on the Eastern District by Obama)
Dolly M. Gee (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee John F. Walter; Gee later was nominated and confirmed to a different seat on the Central District by Obama)
