23 Mar 2013 1:03 pm
There are more vacancies on the federal courts now than when Obama took office nearly four years ago. And he is the first president in generations to fail to put a nominee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the second most influential court in the land and traditionally a training ground for Supreme Court justices.http://www.washingto...8036_story.htmlThere are four vacancies on the D.C. Circuit court. The nomination of Sri Srinivasan, Obamas deputy solicitor general, has not yet gotten a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. In his first term, Obama did not get a single nominee onto the court. Overall, eighteen of Obamas judicial nominees are currently awaiting confirmation.http://www.washingto...gan-nomination/In 2005, the phrase 'up or down vote' was heard most often from Republicans in the United States, who occupied 55 seats in the United States Senate, and thus lacked the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster maneuver by the Democratic Senators.If the Republicans were able to bring any particular matter to an 'up or down vote', they would be able to approve that measure if voting as a bloc.To this end, many Republican-affiliated websites and political action committees had urged voters to demand of their Senators and Representatives an 'up or down vote' on various issues.