FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                        OPD
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1994                                       (202) 616-2771
                                                              TDD (202) 514-1888


                   RECORD NUMBER OF FEDERAL JUDGES CONFIRMED

     During the 103rd Congress, the Clinton Administration
obtained the confirmation of 129 federal judges, the highest
total ever for a President's first two years in office.   
     Fourteeen additional nominations are pending in the Senate.
     As the attached statistical fact sheet discloses, the
President reduced the judicial vacancy rate from the 13.5% (113
vacancies) he inherited to 6.3% (53 vacancies).  The vacancy rate
would have been 4.7% (39 vacancies) if action had been taken on
the nominees not yet acted upon in the Senate.   This is
equivalent to "full employment" in the 837-member federal
judiciary.
     In 1994 alone, 101 judges were appointed and confirmed, the
highest one-year number of appointments in the last 15 years.
     Sixty-three percent of the Clinton judicial nominees have
received the highest rating of "well qualified" from the American
Bar Association.
     The President's nominees have included 44 women (31% of the
total), 31 African-Americans (22%) and 12 Hispanics (8%).  The
President also appointed one Native-American, one Asian-American
and two individuals with disabilities.    

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94-591