Pummeling a Circuit Court

With the federal courts caught in a squeeze play between funding shortfalls and Congress’ penchant for creating new federal crimes, pressure is falling heaviest on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Seven of its 28 seats are vacant, and massive backlogs are accumulating in the circuit, which covers California and eight other Western states. Vilified by congressional conservatives as the nation’s most liberal, the circuit is being punished with unconscionable delays in addressing its many vacancies.

Two especially worthy nominees, U.S. District Judge Richard Paez of Los Angeles and San Francisco lawyer Marsha Berzon, have been singled out for humiliation. Paez has waited a record 44 months since his nomination by President Clinton; Berzon has waited nearly two years.

Both nominations were approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee after long delays and are now stalled in the Senate, hostage to a small group of senators with a grudge against the appeals court and the president. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has refused to bring the Paez and Berzon nominations to the floor. This stonewalling is particularly out of line in light of the caliber of Paez and Berzon and the breadth of their support.

Paez, former head of the Legal Aid Foundation, wins praise from conservative Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale), a floor manager during the impeachment hearings against President Clinton. Berzon, a labor lawyer who has won major cases before the Supreme Court, counts Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) among her many supporters. But Lott refuses to budge, claiming that nominees to the 9th Circuit need special scrutiny. In fact there’s very little scrutiny going on here, just disgraceful treatment of two able nominees, a woefully short-handed court and the public it serves.