George H. W. Bush judicial appointment controversies explained

During George H. W. Bush's term in office as the president of the United States of America, he nominated 11 individuals for 10 different federal appellate judgeships who were not processed by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee.^[1] The Republicans claim that Senate Democrats of the 102nd Congress on purpose tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Democratic president to fill them.^[2] All 10 of the judgeships were eventually filled with Clinton nominees, although one nominee, Roger Gregory, was nominated by Clinton and then renominated by President George W. Bush. None of the nominees were nominated after July 1, 1992, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. Senator Orrin Hatch, the Republican leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 106th Congress mentioned the controversy over President George H.W. Bush's court of appeals nominees during the following controversy involving the confirmation of any more Democratic court of appeals nominees during the last two years of President Bill Clinton's second term.^[3]

List of unsuccessful federal judicial nominations

Bush made 56 nominations for federal judgeships that were not confirmed by the Senate. All 56 expired at an adjournment of the Senate, including 53 that were pending at the close of the 102nd Congress. Twenty of his unsuccessful nominees were subsequently nominated to federal judgeships by other presidents, and 18 of them were confirmed.

Nominee	Court	Nomination date	Date of final action	Final action	Subsequent federal judicial nominations	Seat filled by	Ref.
Courts of appeals
	11th Cir.			returned to the president		Rosemary Barkett	^[4] ^[5]
	3rd Cir.			returned to the president		H. Lee Sarokin	^[6]
	3rd Cir.			returned to the president		Theodore McKee	^[7]
	4th Cir.			returned to the president		Roger Gregory	^[8]
	4th Cir.			returned to the president		Diana Gribbon Motz	^[9]
	10th Cir.			returned to the president		Carlos F. Lucero	^[10]
	5th Cir.			returned to the president		Fortunato Benavides	^[11]
	D.C. Cir.			returned to the president		Judith W. Rogers	^[12]
	6th Cir.			returned to the president		Martha Craig Daughtrey	^[13]
	11th Cir.			returned to the president		Rosemary Barkett	^[14]
	6th Cir.			returned to the president		Karen Nelson Moore	^[15]
District courts
	W.D. Pa.			returned to the president		Donetta Ambrose	^[16] ^[17]
	N.D.N.Y.			returned to the president		Rosemary S. Pooler	^[18]
	S.D. Fla.			returned to the president		Wilkie D. Ferguson	^[19]
	S.D.N.Y.			returned to the president		Allen G. Schwartz	^[20]
	N.D. Okla.			returned to the president		Terence C. Kern	^[21]
	N.D. Cal.			returned to the president		Claudia Ann Wilken	^[22]
	S.D. Ga.			returned to the president		William Theodore Moore Jr.	^[23]
	E.D.N.Y.			returned to the president		Himself	^[24]
	W.D. Tex.			returned to the president		Samuel Frederick Biery Jr.	^[25]
	N.D. Ohio			returned to the president		James G. Carr	^[26]
	W.D. Tex.			returned to the president		William Royal Furgeson Jr.	^[27]
	S.D.N.Y.			returned to the president		Deborah Batts	^[28]
	C.D. Cal.			returned to the president		Audrey B. Collins	^[29]
	E.D. Mo.			returned to the president		Charles Alexander Shaw	^[30]
	S.D. Tex.			returned to the president		Janis Graham Jack	^[31]
	S.D. Tex.			returned to the president		Vanessa Gilmore	^[32]
	C.D. Cal.			returned to the president		Richard Paez	^[33]
	W.D. Mo.			returned to the president		Gary A. Fenner	^[34]
	S.D.N.Y.			returned to the president		Denny Chin	^[35]
	E.D. Ark.			returned to the president		Billy Roy Wilson	^[36]
	N.D. Ala.			returned to the president		Charles Lynwood Smith Jr.	^[37]
	E.D. Va.			returned to the president		Leonie Brinkema	^[38]
	D. Neb.			returned to the president		Thomas Michael Shanahan	^[39]
	W.D. Wash.			returned to the president		Frank Burgess	^[40]
	D. Md.			returned to the president		Deborah K. Chasanow	^[41]
	S.D. Cal.			returned to the president		Barry Ted Moskowitz	^[42]
	E.D. Tex.			returned to the president		John H. Hannah Jr.	^[43]
	N.D. Ohio			returned to the president		Lesley B. Wells	^[44]
	N.D. Ga.			returned to the president		Frank M. Hull	^[45]
	E.D. Mo.			returned to the president		Catherine D. Perry	^[46]
	N.D. Ohio			returned to the president		Solomon Oliver Jr.	^[47]
	D. Md.			returned to the president		Alexander Williams Jr.	^[48]
	S.D.N.Y.			returned to the president		Harold Baer Jr.	^[49]
	D. Nev.			returned to the president		David Warner Hagen	^[50]
	M.D. Ga.			returned to the president		Willie Louis Sands	^[51]
	E.D.N.Y.			returned to the president		Herself	^[52]
	W.D. La.			returned to the president		Tucker L. Melancon	^[53]
	W.D. Mo.			returned to the president		Ortrie D. Smith	^[54]
	E.D. Okla. N.D. Okla. W.D. Okla.			returned to the president		Michael Burrage	^[55]
	D. Mass.			returned to the president		Richard G. Stearns	^[56]
	D. Mass.			returned to the president		Reginald C. Lindsay	^[57]
	S.D. Fla.			returned to the president		Daniel T. K. Hurley	^[58]
	E.D. Mich.			returned to the president		John Corbett O'Meara	^[59]
Article IV courts
	D.V.I.			returned to the president		Thomas K. Moore	^[60]
	D.V.I.			returned to the president		Himself	^[61]

Failed appellate nominees

• United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • Pennsylvania seat - Franklin Stuart Van Antwerpen (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Theodore McKee) (Van Antwerpen later was nominated to a different Third Circuit seat by President George W. Bush in 2003, confirmed in 2004 and assumed senior status in 2006)
  • Pennsylvania seat - Jay Waldman (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee H. Lee Sarokin)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • North Carolina seat - Terrence Boyle (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Roger Gregory of Virginia after being renominated by Bush in 2001) (Boyle was renominated to a different seat on the Fourth Circuit by President George W. Bush but was never confirmed)
  • Virginia seat - Lillian BeVier (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Diana Jane Gribbon Motz)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • Texas seat - Sidney A. Fitzwater (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Fortunato Benavides)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
  • Michigan seat - John Smietanka (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Martha Craig Daughtrey of Tennessee)
  • Ohio seat - Justin Wilson of Tennessee (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Karen Nelson Moore of Ohio, while the then-vacant and newly created Tennessee seat was eventually filled by Clinton nominee Martha Craig Daughtrey)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • Oklahoma seat - Frank Keating (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Robert Harlan Henry)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • Florida seat - Kenneth Ryskamp, followed by Federico A. Moreno (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Rosemary Barkett)
• United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
  • John Roberts (judgeship later filled by Clinton nominee Judith Ann Wilson Rogers) (Roberts was renominated and confirmed to a different seat on the D.C. Circuit under President George W. Bush; later, he was nominated and confirmed as the Chief Justice of the United States under George W. Bush)

See also

• George H. W. Bush Supreme Court candidates
• United States federal judge
• Judicial appointment history for United States federal courts
• Deaths of United States federal judges in active service

Notes and References

1. http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8730335 Congressional Chronicle
2. Web site: GOP.com | Republican National Committee :: Rising Tide - the Judicial Confirmation Battle . 2008-10-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081025095223/http://staging.gop.com//News/RisingTideRead.aspx?ID=112 . 2008-10-25 . dead .
3. https://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/record/2000/2000_S10236.pdf{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
4. Web site: PN1225 — Kenneth L. Ryskamp — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
5. Web site: PN39 — Kenneth L. Ryskamp — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
6. Web site: PN530 — Jay C. Waldman — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
7. Web site: PN580 — Franklin S. Van Antwerpen — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
8. Web site: PN712 — Lillian R. BeVier — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
9. Web site: PN713 — Terrence W. Boyle — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
10. Web site: PN762 — Francis A. Keating II — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
11. Web site: PN856 — Sidney A. Fitzwater — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
12. Web site: PN857 — John G. Roberts Jr. — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
13. Web site: PN858 — John A. Smietanka — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
14. Web site: PN932 — Federico A. Moreno — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
15. Web site: PN972 — Justin P. Wilson — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
16. Web site: PN1592 — James R. McGregor — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
17. Web site: PN40 — James R. McGregor — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
18. Web site: PN526 — Edmund Arthur Michael Kavanagh — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
19. Web site: PN531 — Thomas E. Sholts — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
20. Web site: PN758 — Andrew P. O'Rourke — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
21. Web site: PN765 — Tony Michael Graham — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
22. Web site: PN789 — Carlos Bea — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
23. Web site: PN801 — James B. Franklin — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
24. Web site: PN808 — David G. Trager — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
25. Web site: PN860 — Kenneth R. Carr — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
26. Web site: PN861 — James W. Jackson — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
27. Web site: PN862 — Terral R. Smith — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
28. Web site: PN977 — Paul L. Shechtman — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
29. Web site: PN978 — Percy Anderson — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
30. Web site: PN979 — Lawrence O. Davis — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
31. Web site: PN980 — Andrew S. Hanen — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
32. Web site: PN982 — Russell T. Lloyd — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
33. Web site: PN985 — John F. Walter — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
34. Web site: PN987 — Gene E. Voigts — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
35. Web site: PN999 — Manuel H. Quintana — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
36. Web site: PN1012 — Charles A. Banks — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
37. Web site: PN1025 — Robert D. Hunter — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
38. Web site: PN1026 — Maureen E. Mahoney — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
39. Web site: PN1029 — James S. Mitchell — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
40. Web site: PN1112 — Ronald B. Leighton — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
41. Web site: PN1176 — William D. Quarles — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
42. Web site: PN1177 — James A. McIntyre — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
43. Web site: PN1198 — Leonard E. Davis — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
44. Web site: PN1199 — J. Douglas Drushal — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
45. Web site: PN1200 — C. Christopher Hagy — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
46. Web site: PN1201 — Louis J. Leonatti — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
47. Web site: PN1247 — James J. McMonagle — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
48. Web site: PN1248 — Katharine J. Armentrout — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
49. Web site: PN1273 — Richard Conway Casey — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
50. Web site: PN1277 — Larry R. Hicks — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
51. Web site: PN1298 — R. Edgar Campbell — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
52. Web site: PN1299 — Joanna Seybert — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
53. Web site: PN1318 — Robert W. Kostelka — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
54. Web site: PN1333 — Richard E. Dorr — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
55. Web site: PN1369 — James H. Payne — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
56. Web site: PN1370 — Walter B. Prince — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
57. Web site: PN1392 — George A. O'Toole Jr. — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
58. Web site: PN1426 — William P. Dimitrouleas — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
59. Web site: PN1427 — Henry W. Saad — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
60. Web site: PN1127 — Adriane J. Dudley — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.
61. Web site: PN1239 — Raymond L. Finch — The Judiciary. Congress.gov.