REPORT: GOP IS STALLING ON JUDGES

WASHINGTON -- Wading into a simmering dispute between Congress and the
White House, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist chided Senate Republicans
on Wednesday for stalling on President Clinton's judicial nominees.

In an annual report on the federal judiciary, the conservative chief
justice warned that delays have left one out of every 10 federal judgeships
vacant, threatening the quality of justice in federal courts.

``The Senate is surely under no obligation to confirm any particular
nominee, but after the necessary time for inquiry, it should vote him up or
vote him down,'' Rehnquist said in his year-end report. ``Vacancies cannot
remain at such high levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of
justice.''

The vacancy problem is ``particularly troubling'' on the West Coast,
Rehnquist noted. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is supposed
to have 28 judges, has only 18 judges to hear appeals from the nine-state
region.

Since taking control of the Senate at the start of 1995, the Republicans
have adopted a go-slow strategy on court nominees. They have not voted down
a single Clinton nominee, but they have delayed action on dozens.

Rehnquist noted that while 101 judges were confirmed in 1994, only 17 won
Senate approval in 1996, followed by 36 in 1997.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who was
unavailable for comment Wednesday, has firmly denied the GOP is
deliberately stalling, saying he and his colleagues are closely
scrutinizing the backgrounds of Clinton's nominees to weed out ``liberal
activists.''

The Republicans also blame the administration for the vacancy problem
because of its slow pace in submitting nominations.

The year-end numbers could bolster either argument. While 86 judgeships are
vacant nationwide, the administration has only 42 nominations pending
before the Senate.

Rehnquist's comments focused on the dozen Clinton nominees who have been in
limbo for more than a year.

Topping the list is University of California-Berkeley law Professor William
A. Fletcher, who was nominated for a seat on the 9th Circuit in April 1995.
His nomination is still pending, but Republican leaders say they plan no
further action to either confirm or reject Fletcher.

Administration officials and Senate Democrats cheered Rehnquist's comments.

``I think the chief justice is entirely right. No one has a right to be
confirmed, but they (Republicans) have an obligation to act,'' said
Assistant Attorney General Eleanor D. Acheson, who is in charge of
selecting judicial nominees. ``This process takes a very real and personal
toll on people whose lives and careers are put on hold.''

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat,
said he hoped Rehnquist's message ``will help shame the Senate into
clearing the backlog early in the new year.''

But the potential impact -- if any -- of the chief justice's remarks is
unclear.

It also is hard to gauge the impact of judicial vacancies on the quality of
justice.

In recent years, judges have complained about the increasing workload in
the federal judiciary, but that is due mostly to a sharp rise in drug and
immigration cases.

Vacancies on the courts ``aggravate the problem of too few judges and too
much work,'' Rehnquist said.