Departure leaves District Court judge shortage
LINCOLN(AP)— Nebraska’s
federal court system will become
increasingly strained if a new U.S.
district judge is not appointed
soon — something that^ unlikely
to happen in the waning months of
President Clinton t term.
Nebraska is authorized by
Congress to have four U.S.
District Court judges, who hear
cases in Omaha, Lincoln and
North Platte.
Judge William Cambridge of
Omaha retired July 11, leaving
Nebraska with just three full-time
district judges.
And while Nebraska has a rel
atively heavy federal court case
load, politics come into play in the
judgeship game more ti^an many
folks realize.
Federal judges are appointed
by the president and confirmed
by the Senate.
Republicans, hoping to
regain the White House after
eight years of Clinton’s presiden
cy, have done little this year to
expedite approval of his nomi
ft In the last six months of a
presidents term, the chances are
slim to none that a nominee will be
confirmed.
DkkShugrue
professor, political analyst, Creighton University
nees to lifetime judgeships.
"In the last six months of a
president's term, the chances are
slim to none that a nominee will
be confirmed,” said Dick
Shugrue, a law professor and
political analyst at Creighton
University in Omaha.
Senate confirmation moves
more slowly when a presidential
election is approaching or when
the president and Senate are con
trolled by different political par
ties.
Through much of the Clinton
administration, Democrats have
accused Republicans of stalling
over judicial nominations while
the GOP contended Clinton acted
too slowly and chose nominees
Republicans considered "judicial
activists.”
As of July 1, there were 834
federal judgeships, not including
the Supreme Court. There were 60
vacancies and 36 nominees await
ing a Senate confirmation vote.
The time it takes a president to
choose a judicial nominee and die
Senate to act has risen sharply
since the Carter administration,
according to a 1999 study by the
Constitution Project, a bipartisan
group of scholars and legal
experts affiliated with the
' Georgetown University law
school.
Clinton took an average 315
days to choose nominees, while
the Senate took an average 201
days to act on nominees during
1997-98. In contrast, Carter took
Judge appointed to Reeves’
sentencing panel
LINCOLN (AP)—Lancaster
County District Judge Karen
Flowers has been appointed to
serve on the panel to decide
whether convicted murderer
Randolph Reeves will be execut
ed.
She replaces Lancaster
County District Judge Bernard
McGinn, who removed himself
from the panel earlier this month
because he was a deputy prosecu
tor when Reeves was tried.
Reeves, 43, was sentenced to
death in 1981 for killing Janet
Mesner and Victoria Lamm inside
a Quaker meeting house in
Lincoln.
But the Nebraska Supreme
Court said in January that it erred
when it upheld Reeves’ death sen
tence in 1991 by not properly fol
lowing the state’s sentencing
process in capital cases.
Nebraska Supreme Court
Chief Justice John Hendry made
the appointment of Flowers on
Tuesday.
Flowers will serve as presiding
judge on the three-judge panel
appointed to resentence Reeves
after the high court vacated his
original death sentence.
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an average 240 days to pick judi
cial nominees, while President
Reagan took 254 days and
President Bush took 296 days.
The average pace of Senate
action has varied widely, includ
ing as few as 32 days in 1981-82
when Reagan had a Republican
Senate, and 144 days at the end of
his administration, after
Democrats gained Senate control.
Nebraska’s federal judicial
nominees are made by the senior
member of the state’s congres
sional delegation who is in the
same party as the president — in
this case Democratic Sen. Bob
Kerrey.
Kerrey has appointed a com
mittee, headed by Lincoln attor
ney Charles M. "Chuck” Pallesen
Jr., to submit a name or names to
him by this weekend to replace
Cambridge.
"I think all those involved in
the nominating process are aware
of the considerable time con
straints we are under,” Kerrey
said.
Kerrey hopes to submit a
nominee to Clinton by the first
week in August.
Nebraska’s federal courts have
one of the heaviest criminal dock
ets in the nation — mainly
because of the proliferation of
methamphetam ine and other drug
— STATE NEWS —
Reeves’ attorney, Paula
Hutchinson of Lincoln, had no
comment Wednesday on Flowers’
appointment.
Task force discusses mini
mum salary for teachers
NORFOLK (AP) — Teachers
should have a minimum salary in
Nebraska, one group of educators
said.
Faced with a teacher shortage
and salaries that on average rank
among the lowest in the nation,
teachers and their union have
argued those salaries have to be
increased.
The Legislature formed a task
force to come up with recommen
dations by Oct. 1 on how much
more public school teachers
should earn and how to pay for the
higher salaries.
As the clock wound down on
Tuesday’s meeting in Norfolk, a
subgroup of the task force present
ed a series of recommendations to
the board.
Currently, there is no
miminum salary for teachers in
Nebraska. The average wage is
$33,000, ranking it 43rd in the
country. The national average
salary is $41,575.
The group of six teachers rec
cases.
The federal judiciary uses a
statistical formula to estimate how
long each type of case should take
— similar to the system car
mechanics use to determine how
much to charge for performing
repairs.
According to the formula,
Nebraska has the 45th heaviest,
overall caseload among the
nation’s 94 court districts. In die
rankings of criminal cases alone,
Nebraska has the 17th heaviest
load.
Before Cambridge left,
Nebraska had 1,156 cases — 811
civil and 245 criminal—pending.
Judges Tom Shanahan and
Joseph Bataillon of Omaha took
Cambridge’s pending criminal
cases. The civil cases were divided
between the three remaining
judges.
Nebraska also has two, semi
retired senior judges who can help
with the caseload.
"While we are in generally
pretty good shape with four
judges, our caseload with three
judges is fairly difficult,’’ said U.S.
District Judge Richard Kopf of
Lincoln, who is chief judge for
Nebraska. "Short-term we can
get along, but it’s a significant
strain.”
ommended a minimum salary of
$27,000 to $30,000 for teachers
with a bachelor’s degree. The six
teachers also recommended a min
imum salary for teachers with
master’s degrees at 1.5 times the
minimum salary for those with
bachelor^ degrees.
Farmers in four Nebraska
counties eUgibk for loans
OMAHA (AP) — Because
they are contiguous to four
Colorado counties named agricul
tural disaster areas, fanners in four
Nebraska counties are eligible for
low-interest loans.
Nebraska farmers in Chase,
Cheyenne, Kimball and Perkins
counties are eligible for U.S.
Department of Agriculture loans,
Secretary Dan Glickman said
Wednesday.
The disaster declaration
named four Colorado counties as
primary disaster areas. They are
Delta, Logan, Phillips, and
Washington counties.
Eleven contiguous Colorado
counties also are covered in the
declaration.
Last month, the federal gov
ernment designated 17 Nebraska
counties as agricultural disaster
areas.