Courts to change under Clinton
’ ■ ’ne icderal judiciary is domi
[ natcd by conservative appoin
tees brought in during the 12
years of leadership by Ronald Reagan
and George Bush.
I More than 65 percent
of federal judges were
nominated by the two,
including fivcofthenine
Supreme Court justices.
Reagan also promoted
William Rehnquist to
chief justice.
When Clinton begins
his term as president on
Jan. 20, he will have the opportunity
to make substantial changes to im
prove American jurisprudence.
Immediately upon entering office,
Clinton will be able to name more
than 100 ofthe 846 total federal judges,
or about three times the number of
court openings that faced either
Reagan or Bush when they began
their terms.
As of Nov. 1, there were 84 district
’ court openings, 16 appeals court va
cancies and two slots on the Court of
International Trade. If his record of
appointments in Arkansas is an accu
rate indicator, Clinton should fill the
openings with people whotcflect the
demographic makeup of the United
States.
In other words, the federal judi
ciary will have even more women,
blacks, Mexican-Americans and other
minorities within its life-tenured ranks.
Bush can blame himself for many
of the vacancies. He nominated no
one for 46 openings before the Senate
adjourned in October, leaving the task
to President-elect Clinton when the
Senate reconvenes next year. About
53 other nominees were not acted
upon by the Senate before iladjoumed.
These nominations are now in limbo,
leaving Clinton to either renominate
the person or, more likely, make his
own choice.
Bush falsely contends a hostile
Congress is responsible for his inef
ficiency. While the Democratic Con
gress may have held up a number of
nominations in the Judiciary Com
mittee, the presidcntalso is at fault. In
addition to failing to nominate per
sons for 46 judgeships this year, Bush
dragged his feet in the area through
out his term.
In his first year in office, for ex
ample, Bush named only 15 judges,
leaving 60 spots to be filled. The total
number of judges named that year
was the lowest total since 1963. Bush ’ s
four-year total was equally low, as he
named only 194 judges to the district
and appeals courts. In contrast, Carter
named 262 and Reagan named 378.
If judicial retirement statistics con
tinue their trend, Clinton will have the
opportunity to give the federal judi
ciary a face lift. The Administrative
Office of the U.S. Courts estimates
that about 60 federal judges retire
each year. Adding in the more than
100 appointments he will have at the
beginning of his term, Clinton could
appoint more than one-third of the
entire federal judiciary in his four
years in office.
The most important changes could
occur in the Supreme Court, where
several judges cotild retire. Justice
Byron White, who was appointed in
1962 by President Kennedy, is 75.
White was appointed by a Demo
cratic president, but has been consid
ered a conservative.
Although Reagan appointees have
overshadowed White’s conservatism
in the last 10 years and pushed many
of his votes to the ideological center,
White has often voted with conserva
tive majorities. He recently has hinted
at his impending retirement by saying
that since he was appointed during a
Democratic administration, heshould
leave during one.
Justice Harry Blackmun, who
turned 84 in November, is another
prime candidate to retire. Blackmun,
who was appointed by President Nixon
in 1970, was originally thought to be
conservative in his views. By the time
he authored Roc vs. Wade in 1973,
however, it was clear Blackmun was
far from the conservative ideologue
Nixon had hoped he would be.
Since the retirements of Justices
Brennan and Marshall, Blackmun has
been the most liberal member of the
court. He foreshadowed his retire
ment in this summer’s Planned Par
enthood of Southeastern Pennsylva
nia vs. Casey decision by writing, “I
cannot remain on this court forever,
and when I do step down, the confir
mation process for my successor may
well focus on the issue before us
today.”
Other justices also have been the
subjects of retirement speculation.
Chief Justice Rehnquist, appointed
by Nixon in 1971 and promoted by
Reagan to chief justice in 1986, is 68
years old. As a fierce partisan, how
ever, it is unlikely Rehnquist would
retire during a Democratic adminis
tration.
John Paul Stevens, 72, was ap
pointed by President Ford in 1975.
Between oral arguments, Stevens re
portedly heads south to a home in
Florida for work and recreation. His
lack of desire to stay in Washington
may indicate he has had his fill of the
court’s rigorous schedule.
Several names have been brought
up as possible Clinton nominees for
the one or more seats that could open
up.
Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo of
New York has been the subject of
much of the public speculation ever
since the Clinton campaign mentioned
his name in connection with the “level
of competence” Clinton is looking for
in members of the high court Other
possibilities include Amanda Lyle
Kearse of the 2nd Circuit Court of
Appeals in New York, Richard Arnold
of the 8th Circuit in Little Rock, Ark.,
and Professor Laurence Tribe of
Harvard University.
It is clear that Clinton has the op
portunity to make major changes in
the judicial landscape.
The interests of the American
people wil 1 be served best if he chooses
to make those changes not simply by
:hoosing people on the basis of their
ideology but by seeking out qualified
women, blacks, Hispanics and others
to diversify the background and per
spectives of our nation’s judges.
Bruning is a second-year law student and
a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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-* ———--- • . r
Petty bitching leads to bonding
m al a los$ for words.
Really, I honestly can’t decide
what to bitch about this week.
I could bitch about being swamped
with projects to finish, tests to cram
for and classes I should be attending
but can’t because I have projects to
finish and tests to cram for.
I could bitch about the
crappy weather and
how, when 1 take my
laundry out of the dryer,
I have to carry it outside
through rain, snow and
sleet to get it to m y apart
ment.
And speaking of my
apartment, I could bitch
about how we signed a six-month
lease but were told we could move out
after December and how the really
company seems to remember nothing
about this conversation.
While I’m bitching about this, I
could also bitch about how the trains
go by our building right when I’m
trying to sleep.
Or I could bitch about the other day
when, two blocks from campus, I
spilled hot coffee all over my jeans
and car seal, so I had to turn around
and go home to change, only to spill
the rest of my coffee all over the liv ing
room carpel.
As though my petty bitching means
anything in the great workings of the
cosmos. There arc much bigger things
to bitch about: the ozone layer, the
government, the arts, the economy,
the election of an cx-Communist as
the new Slovenian president.
The S lovenians probably could care
less if I spilled hot coffee on myself.
Of course, I don’t much care who
the Slovenians elect as their leader,
unless he’s a distant uncle of mine.
The yuppie couple in their
S2(X),(XX) house bitching about a re
pair bill on the new Saab or their
Sl(X),(XX)-salary jobs probably could
care less about me AND the
Slovenians.
My b i tch ing abou t tests and projee ts
seems pretty darn petty compared to
someone who takes as many classes
as I do while taking care of an ener
getic 4-ycar-old boy or someone tak
ing night classes while they take care
of their kids and work a full-time job.
And all this seems petty to the guy
out on the street sleeping on a park
bench who bitches about being hun
gry*
I know people who hardly ever
bitch about anything, who could have
all their possessions destroyed in a
natural catastrophe and still be grate
ful to be alive.
I also know people who, if they
won a $ 10 mill ion lottery, would bitch
about not knowing how to spend it all.
Bitching is relative. Whether we’re
bitching about finding food or finding
car keys, we all do it.
That’s what friends arc for. They
will listen to almost any gripe, from
natural catastrophes to losing car keys.
So I bitched to my friends about
my hot coffee episode, and they nod
ded thoughtfully.
For a really good bitch session, we
talk about money. It’s almost like a
contest to see who can bitch about
being the poorest. The winner gets
thoughtful nods all around.
With Christmas on the way, the
money-bitching sessions come like
snowstorms: starting slow, then build
ing and going on for what seems like
forever.
My parents bitch that they can’t
afford to buy many gifts this year, and
I nod thoughtfully. My friends bitch
that they can’t afford to buy gifts at
all, and I nod thoughtfully.
I tell all of them that I really don’t
care one way or the other, that gifts arc
not important to me, and they all nod
thoughtfully.
All this thoughtful nodding should
mean the issue is resolved. But we
still go on bitching about what to do
for Christmas as though the world
revolved around finding the perfect
present.
My grandparents have a unique ,
concept. They don’t give gifts to any
one, nor do they get any.
That may sound pretty radical to a
lot of people, but it makes sense to me.
They don’t have to bitch about find
ing the perfect gifts or how much to
spend on certain people; they wish
you “Merry Christmas” and leave it at
that.
They make up for the missed gifts
on birthdays and anniversaries, but 1
don’t think that’s necessary. Just be
ing there is enough of a gift for me.
I’ve recently realized the value of
people in my life, perhaps a little too
late.
My other grandfather is in the hos
pital, dying of cancer.
My mother tells me that I should
prepare myself for the inevitable, but
how do you prepare for the death of a
loved one? Our final goodbyes were
implied over Thanksgiving, but pre
pared,I’m not. I don’t think I ever will
be until the inevitable finally comes.
And there’s nothing I can do but
bitch to whoever will listen.
But my bitching seems petty com
pared to someone who has lost loved
ones to a natural catastrophe, to some
one who never knows where his next
meal will come from, or to someone
who, about 2,(XX) years ago, was born
to a carpenter and his wife in a stable
far from home.
The best gift you can give is your
self.
Merry Christmas.
Paulman is » senior news editorial and
history major and a Daily Nebraskan colum
nist and photographer.
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