Mediaboss Marketing

President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democrats have made a concerted effort over the past two years to seat as many federal judges as possible, and this week they could declare victory, having confirmed the most judges in a single Congress since 1980. But this strategy based on the political calculus that lifetime judicial appointments will have greater, longer impact than executive branch nominees means some federal agencies will still face serious gaps during Obamas remaining time in office.

In private conversation with a Republican senator earlier this year, Reid acknowledged that confirming federal judges was his top priority, according an aide to the GOP senator, because, Its what lasts.

While Senate Democrats were able to confirm dozens of the presidents stalled nominees in the final legislative frenzy before Congress adjourned for the year, the Obama administration will enter its last two years in with more than a quarter of all its senior cabinet agency posts 96 presidentially appointed positions unfilled, according to a White House analysis. The reason, in most cases, is that nominees for those jobs have not been confirmed by the Senate.

But which nominations advance to confirmation and which ones flounder has become a political choice that reflect the ideological divisions that now define Washington.

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said given the fact that federal judges serve well beyond the course of a single administration, One is truly a legacy situation, and one is less sweeping. But he added that Reid had tried, under difficult circumstances, to confirm key agency nominees where it made a difference.

It was a triage situation, and we tried to address the crisis where it was the most acute, he said, noting that while Reid has had more latitude in calling up nominees, he has been limited by time available to debate the nominations.

The feud between Democrats and Republicans on the issue reached a low point in November 2013, when Democrats were so frustrated with their efforts to seat three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, they lowered the threshold for confirmations by eliminating filibusters for most of the presidents nominees.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who has helped broker bipartisan deals on the confirmation process in the past, said in an interview that by upending the rules, Democrats have undermined their ability to seat future nominees in the GOP-controlled Senate next year.

There was a price to pay. Alexander noted there are more nominees that have cleared committee and are waiting for a vote than on Nov. 21, 2013, when Senate Democrats changed the confirmation rules.

Most lawmakers and academic experts said it will be increasingly difficult for Obama to win approval of his executive branch nominees during his last two years in office.

Original post:
Democrats employ strategy to get the most bang for Obama nominations