For a variety of reasons, from institutional lethargy to calculated tactical opposition, the rate at which the Obama Administration’s judicial nominees are confirmed by Congress has become painfully slow, to the detriment of the judicial system and the possibility of justice itself.

A new Congressional Research Service analysis of judicial nominations and confirmations since the 1980s found that the duration of the confirmation process is now extraordinarily long even in those cases when it concludes successfully.

“President Obama is the only one of the five most recent Presidents for whom, during his first term, both the average and median waiting time from nomination to confirmation for circuit and district court nominees was greater than half a calendar year (i.e., more than 182 days),” the CRS analysis determined.

See President Obama’s First-Term U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations: An Analysis and Comparison with Presidents Since Reagan, May 2, 2013.

Some other new or newly updated CRS reports that Congress has not made readily available to the public include the following.

Legislative Branch: FY2013 Appropriations, May 2, 2013

Extending Unemployment Compensation Benefits During Recessions, May 2, 2013

U.S. Household Savings for Retirement in 2010, April 30, 2013

Counting Regulations: An Overview of Rulemaking, Types of Federal Regulations, and Pages in the Federal Register, May 1, 2013

Budget Control Act: Potential Impact of Sequestration on Health Reform Spending, May 1, 2013

Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress, May 1, 2013

Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Political Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests, May 1, 2013

The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress, April 30, 2013