McCain’s Quest to Change Judiciary Could Be Difficult

Judiciary

McCain’s Quest to Change Judiciary Could Be Difficult

Posted May 9, 2008, 08:34 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Sen. John McCain wants to shape the judiciary, but he may find it’s not so easy if he’s elected president.

There will likely be few judicial openings if and when McCain takes office, columnist Al Kamen writes for the Washington Post. Currently there are only 13 vacancies on the federal appeals courts and 35 openings at the federal trial level. President Bush, by way of contrast, had 30 appellate seats and 55 district court openings to fill in 2001.

Already, the federal bench is “solidly controlled” by the GOP, and immediate retirees would more likely be judges who were appointed by Republicans rather than Democrats. “McCain, at least for a chunk of his first term, would only be treading water,” the column says.

He might have more luck with the U.S. Supreme Court, however. The court’s most senior liberal justice is John Paul Stevens, who just turned 88. Fellow liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75.

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