Clinton Begins Undoing the Reagan-Bush Judiciary

Hoping to give the federal courts a rightward tilt that would last a generation, Presidents Reagan and Bush appointed federal judges who were conservative, white, male and youngish. Nevertheless, President Clinton has a good chance of remaking much of the federal bench as he would like. There are some 850 federal judgeships; Clinton has already made nominations for 48 of them, and he still has close to 100 vacancies to fill, with more to come in the next three years. Clinton's choices so far reflect a much greater interest in nonmaleness and nonwhiteness than was demonstrated by Bush, Reagan or even Carter.

CLINTON BUSH REAGAN CARTER

Nominations (total) 48 239 378 258

White 34 (70.8%) 212 (88.7%) 355 (93.9%) 203 (78.7%)

Black 11 (22.9%) 15 (6.3%) 8 (2.1%) 37 (14.3%)

Hispanic 3 (6.3%) 11 (4.6%) 13 (3.4%) 16 (6.2%)

Asian - 1 (.4%) 2 (.5%) 2 (.8%)

Women 18 (37.5%) 41 (17.2%) 31 (8.2%) 40 (15.5%)

[TMFONT 1 d #666666 d {Source: People for the American Way}]