COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE
1920 L Street, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, January 10, 2008
CONTACT: Curt Levey, (202) 270-7748,

Judges Issue in Michigan Primary

With New Hampshire behind us, the next stop for the GOP presidential contenders is Michigan, home of four Great Lakes and the worst obstruction of judicial nominees in anybody’s memory. It’s been more than six years since Michigan Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow started blocking Michigan nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Despite a nearly 50% vacancy rate on the court at one point, they have persisted in their campaign of obstruction to this day. As a result, two exceptionally qualified Michigan nominees, Raymond Kethledge and Stephen Murphy, have gone more than a year and a half without so much as a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The seats to which they were nominated have long been declared judiciary emergencies.

We provide more details below, but the essential point is that the confluence of the Michigan primary and the outrageous obstruction of the state’s nominees provides a great opportunity for journalists to ask the presidential contenders about the proper role of senators in the judicial confirmation process. After all, one of the most important constitutional responsibilities of a president is the appointment of federal judges. When the Michigan chapter of the Federalist Society holds a forum this evening on the role of the judges issue in the 2008 Presidential election, the Levin / Stabenow obstruction will be among the subjects discussed.

At best, Sens. Levin and Stabenow are being petty. They have tried to justify their campaign of obstruction as payback for the failure of two second-term Clinton appointees to the Sixth Circuit – one of whom is married to Levin's cousin – to get hearings. At worst, Michigan’s senators are willing to subject the residents of the Sixth Circuit – spanning Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan – to eight years of unnecessary delays in the justice system, in the hope that Levin and Stabenow cronies can be put on the court under a Democrat president.

Many suspect the latter motivation, given that Levin and Stabenow have been offered “generous” compromises that would put the two Clinton nominees on the federal bench, but the senators “can't take yes for an answer,” to quote a Detroit News editorial. No wonder the News said that the “intransigence by the Michigan senators goes beyond rough politics and verges on political malpractice.”

We remind Sen. Levin of his own words during the Clinton Administration:

“It is unconscionable to keep [judicial nominees] waiting. At a minimum, give people a hearing and vote them up or down. If members want to vote no, that is their choice. But not to give them a hearing is just unfair.” (source: Detroit News 10/17/99)

Jan. 10 Federalist Society event in Michigan:

Detroit News editorials (links unavailable):
“Stop Blocking Votes on Judicial Nominees,” Sept. 13, 2004
“Give Judicial Nominees a Hearing,” May 9, 2002
“Repair Senate Process on Judicial Nominees,” Nov. 25, 2001

Curt Levey
Executive Director
The Committee for Justice
1920 L Street, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 270-7748

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