Fox Column Shrugs Off Unprecedented Obstruction Of Obama's Judicial Nominees

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/18/fox-column-shrugs-off-unprecedented-obstruction/196502

October 18, 2013
MEAGAN HATCHER-MAYS

Right-wing media continue to deny that President Obama's judicial nominees have faced unparalleled obstruction from congressional Republicans, and is mischaracterizing the legal philosophies of those nominees.

FoxNews.com contributor John Lott not only misled on the overwhelming hurdles President Obama's nominees have faced, he also rather bizarrely branded one nominee as "controversial," even though his legal opinions are based on well-established Supreme Court precedent.

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But As Lott himself acknowledges, numerous analyses (including one by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service) have shown that President Obama's "rhetoric" is true -- his nominees have been blocked at unprecedented levels. Lott dismisses these studies by highly reputable sources because supposedly their "numbers are fundamentally flawed," a bold claim from a source whose research on gun violence has been repeatedly and seriously discredited.

Lott also mysteriously concludes that "when President Obama was a Senator, Democrats gave George W. Bush's Circuit Court nominees much tougher confirmations."

This claim is highly questionable. Although both Republicans and Democrats have engaged in filibusters to block judicial nominees, Democrats typically use this tactic for truly controversial nominees. As The Wall Street Journal has reported, President Obama's mainstream and bipartisan-supported nominees are far more likely to be filibustered than were George W. Bush's:

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