Let's start with a statement from Patrick Leahy's office, naming no names.

Please read the Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy, Third Judicial Nominees Confirmation Hearing, 1st Session, 106th Congress, Senate Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1999.

Justice Ronnie L. White, as far as I know, has never been confirmed, and was called "pro-criminal" by Ashcroft based on one opinion he wrote. If his name didn't pop to mind as quickly as Bork's or Pickering's, that would indicate that the Democrats aren't as good at manufacturing poster children for alleged victims of partisan behavior.

Also: another of Senator Leahy's statements, this one from July 13, 1999.

Senate Judiciary Committee nominees and senatorial statements are to be found here. Click on the session of Congress you would like to review. You can also read remarks from Orrin Hatch, if your jangled nerves need soothing.

Tracking down the names of the nominees and how long (if ever) it took to appoint them takes time. However, you might find the numbers in this report of interest. Before you go off on the political orientation of the Alliance for Justice (not all of whose positions I agree with either), let me remind you that you wanted names and numbers. This site includes a database, searchable by nominee's name, by position, by nominee's nominating President, and by confirmation date as well as by gender and ethnicity. ("Both" and "All" are options in the latter two respective categories.) You can also search Vacancies on the Federal bench either by previous judge or pending nominee.

I have no problem with the Republicans playing political hardball. They're supposed to do that. What I truly hate is this injured innocence routine. They can hold up the judicial nomination process for 6 years and they're not playing politics, but if one of their precious nominees gets a bloody nose, heaven help us, there's great rending of clothing and tearing of hair because the courts' effectiveness is undercut.

Now, if you want to send me back to my room for backtalk ("*Don't bother posting trying to defend all these liberal sacred cows one by one. You probably know what I'm going to say, and I sure as heck know what you're going to say. Save it."), go right ahead. To judge from the recent tenor of remarks, my brain is apparently both infantile and transparent, so it's a long shot that any conservative could learn anything from me anyway.

Regards--
Mary Anne