Iowa U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley (Des Moines Register [IA] , 05/02/13)
"The average voter doesn’t appreciate the significance of federal judicial confirmations in their lives. The federal judges, the district court, the appellate level and the Supreme Court have an enormous impact on the lives of Americans and Iowans.... we’ve got this incredible backlog due to obstructionism by the Senate Republicans that’s keeping these nominees from getting an up or down vote. And so we have vacancies, and that denies people justice."

Moran, Roberts can help on judicial vacancies (Wichita Eagle [KS] , 05/02/13)
WE Blog, The Wichita [KS] Eagle Editorial Department Blog By Rhonda Holman: "the bigger problem is Republican senators quietly refusing to recommend potential judges in the first place.” Two of those mentioned GOP senators are Kansas’ Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts, “neither of whom has put forward nominees for a district court slot there that has been vacant for 1,246 days.""

Broken Circuit: Obstructionism in the Environment’s Most Important Court (Environmental Forum, 05/01/13)
Doug Kendall and Simon Lazarus: "the D.C. Circuit’s conservatives, particularly its farthest-right new members, Kavanaugh and Brown, may be responding to the signals sent by their allies on the Supreme Court ...Several recent decisions evince an uptick in the D.C. Circuit conservatives’ willingness to imperil major regulatory initiatives, and even undermine the institutional capacity of agencies to function ... There remain four vacancies on the D.C. Circuit. Protracted struggle will determine how many of those seats President Obama fills in the nearly four years remaining in his second term."

Severely Conservative Federal Appeals Court Upholds Ban On Gun Sales To People Under 21 (Think Progress, 04/30/13)
Ian Millhiser: "Beyond the fact that two Bush-appointees voted to uphold this law, the judges who called for it to be struck down include some of the most severely conservative judges in the country.... Judge Priscilla Owen once took thousands of dollars worth of campaign contributions from Enron when she sat on the Texas Supreme Court, and then wrote a key opinion reducing Enron’s taxes by $15 million."

Senate Republicans totally boycott judicial nominee process (Daily Kos, 04/30/13)
Joan McCarter: "It's no secret that Senate Republicans have one purpose in political life: total obstruction of President Obama's and Senate Democrats' agenda. It's no secret that to do so, they've ground the work of the Senate to a halt with the filibuster, blocking an unprecedented number of bills and nominations, including judicial nominations. The judiciary crisis is no secret, either:... Republicans point the finger at President Obama, saying that out of the 82 vacancies, 61 don't even have a nominee. How, they say, can we be responsible for this crisis when the President won't even make the nominations. Well, it turns out, Republicans are even blocking that process: they're refusing to allow the simple process of nominations go forward."

Make ‘Em Plead? The House's “Gang of Eight” immigration compromise may require 11 million court dates. (American Prospect, 04/30/13)
Harold Meyerson: "At a time when the backlog of cases before the courts has reached staggering proportions, Republicans on the House immigration working group have come up with a proposal to lengthen judicial waits beyond all imaginable horizons.... even if the number of immigrants who must show up is reduced by half, that’s still a lot of people who’ll be lining up at federal courthouses if and when a bill requiring such pleas is enacted. And this at a time when the courts are already swamped, and when Republicans are either taking forever to confirm, or using the filibuster to reject, President Obama’s judicial appointments. So here’s my own proposed compromise, which I have vetted with absolutely nobody. If the price for a Republican sign-on to immigration reform is to drown the courts in pleading immigrants, Democrats should link that to the GOP agreeing to stop filibustering Obama’s judicial appointees.... You want ‘em to plead? Then give the courts enough judges they can plead to."

Grijalva: My Colleagues Want to Gut Endangered Species Act (Roll Call, 04/29/13)
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva: "This landmark law — signed by President Richard Nixon when protecting the environment was less controversial in Washington — has prevented the extinction of 99 percent of the plants and animals under its protection because it takes a big-picture approach. When we protect species, we also protect the wild forests, deserts, rivers and streams where they live. This means more biological diversity, cleaner air and water, a healthier climate and more sustainable natural resources for which future generations will thank us. Sustaining rivers, forests and deserts is good for our economy. ... The Endangered Species Act is too valuable to shred for the sake of a pesticide company’s bottom line, a sweetheart mining deal or any other grab for money at the environment’s expense. Let’s keep up the good work rather than turning back the clock."

Editorial: Earth Day (Darien Times [CT], 04/27/13)
"The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. ... So for the benefit of all living things, including humanity, let’s focus on giving back to our planet which has given to us in such abundance."

Why The Confirmation Of An Outstanding Judge Still Proves The Senate Is Terrible (Think Progress, 04/25/13)
Ian Millhiser: "It is fantastic news that Kelly is now a judge. Beyond the fact that she is talented and that she adds another name to the short list of potential Supreme Court nominees in a Democratic administration, former public defenders are very rare on the federal bench ... But a person shouldn’t have to be friends with a guy who is friends with Chuck Grassley in order to avoid a grueling confirmation process."

Confirming Eighth Circuit Judge, Sen. Leahy Blasts Effort to Hobble D.C. Circuit (American Constitution Society Blog, 04/24/13)
Jeremy Leaming: "Senate Republicans led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.) have stuck to agenda of obstruction.... Grassley unveiled his plan to keep the D.C. Circuit from shifting much in ideology – currently the court tilts rightward and has proved hostile to federal regulations, such as efforts to enforce the Clean Air and Clean Water laws. Grassley claims the D.C. Circuit has too many judges and a light caseload. He has introduced a bill to slash the number of judges to eight. If Grassley and the other obstructionists have their way, Obama will be fortunate to get one nominee confirmed to the D.C. Circuit.... The Judicial Conference of the United States, chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. in an April 5 letter, Leahy noted, recommended keeping the D.C. Circuit’s 11 judgeships. Moreover, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has noted the Circuit’s caseload has “increased by 50 percent since 2005.” Regarding caseloads of the federal appeals court circuits, Leahy noted that with Kelly’s confirmation, the “Eighth Circuit will have the lowest number of pending appeals per active judge of any circuit in the country. Yes, lower than the D.C. Circuit.” Leahy then rattled off the scores of judicial nominations the Senate obstructionists have delayed or scuttled during Obama’s presidency, leading to a vacancy rate that has hovered at 80 or above for several years now."

Don't weaken the successful Endangered Species Act (Mercury News [CA] , 04/24/13)
Jeff Miller, director of the Alameda Creek Alliance in Niles: "regionally significant stream restoration has been driven by Endangered Species Act protections for steelhead trout, ... The Endangered Species Act is the main reason we now have abundant and healthy populations of brown pelicans and peregrine falcons in the Bay Area. ... A full 99 percent of the more than 1,400 plants and animals protected under the act have been saved from extinction, and hundreds of them are on the road to recovery."

How the Senate cheats New York: We cede our power to Wyoming (New York Daily News, 04/22/13)
Norm Ornstein: "it now means that even when a clear majority of senators favor a bill or a nominee for executive or judicial posts, that is not enough. And in an era of partisan polarization, where minority Republicans act regularly as if they were a parliamentary minority, reflexively voting together in opposition, it means that a majority party is routinely stymied."

Prioritize appointing U.S. judges (Cincinnati Enquirer [OH] , 04/21/13)
By Laurel Bellows, president of the American Bar Association: "With 86 (one in 10) vacancies on our federal bench and with 37 vacant judgeships qualifying as judicial emergencies, the time for collaboration and compromise is now."

A 21st-century blueprint for saving Oregon species from climate change: Guest opinion (Oregonian, 04/20/13)
Bill Bradbury, former Oregon secretary of state: "the Endangered Species Act.... which turns 40 this year, is not without its critics, and I can be frustrated by how long it can take to get protection for critically imperiled species and, once they're listed, how long it can take to get a recovery plan in place. Yet, when we use it as intended, the law can have a tremendous impact. More than 90 percent of the species it protects have been saved from extinction, and hundreds are on the road to recovery. Here in Oregon, some of our most cherished species -- from coho salmon to gray whales and bald eagles -- owe their existence to the Endangered Species Act."

The Register editorial: Grassley wants to whittle down court (Des Moines Register [IA] , 04/20/13)
"U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley has gotten a lot of attention for his proposal to reduce the size of the second most powerful federal court from 11 judges to eight. ... Grassley insists he just wants to redistribute court resources without increasing the judiciary budget. Maybe, but we don’t remember Grassley having these budget concerns when Republican presidents were packing the court."