Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Will Election Have "Seismic" Effect on Federal Courts?
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_10_19-2008_10_25.shtml#1224872454
The [1]National Law Journal reports on a new Brookings Institution
study on how the Presidential election could influence the composition
of the federal courts.
Republican presidents have appointed more than half of the current
179 federal appellate judges, but that could rise dramatically to
74 percent if Sen. John McCain wins the presidency, or give
Democrats a 56 percent majority in appointments if Sen. Barack
Obama prevails, according to a Brookings Institution report issued
on Wednesday.
In addition, the report by [2]Russell Wheeler at Brookings,
predicts that in four years of an Obama presidency, his
appointments could shift Republican dominance on 10 of 11 circuits,
to give Democratic appointees a majority in seven circuit courts.
Currently, of the 11 circuit courts, only the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals has a slight majority of Democrat-appointed
judges.
The balance of appointments could put solid Democratic majorities
under Obama on the 2nd, the 3rd and the notoriously conservative
4th Circuit, which currently has four vacancies. It would add to
the existing Democratic-appointed majorities in the liberal 9th
Circuit.
Obama appointees would tip another four courts, the 1st, 7th, 11th
and D.C. circuits to slight Democratic-majority appointments.
I didn't see a copy of the report on the Brookings website, but I will
post a link when it's available.
References
1. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202425525272
2. http://www.brookings.edu/experts/wheelerr.aspx
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