There are now 25 highly qualified judicial nominees whose nominations are pending on the Senate floor, 21 of whom cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee without opposition. As Republicans continue to prevent timely confirmation votes, the judicial vacancy crisis goes on. More than 10% of all lower federal courts are now or will soon be vacant. In fact, more than 30% of the current vacancies are judicial emergencies, which means there simply aren’t enough judges to get the work of justice done.

In the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Joe Palazzolo writes about the consequences:

Despite the surge in case loads, the number of authorized federal judgeships has risen just 4% since 1990. …

Meanwhile, the number of pending federal criminal cases has jumped 70% in the past decade — to over 76,000, according to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts.

The upshot is that fewer civil litigants are having their day in court. Instead of waiting, many are settling their disputes.

That can be appropriate in many cases, but there is “no shortage of plaintiffs who wind up taking inadequate settlements” or businesses that make unnecessary payments to end the expense and uncertainty of litigation, Ian Millhiser, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, told the Journal.

W. Royal Furgeson, a senior federal judge in Dallas, told the Journal that if decisions on contracts, mergers and intellectual-property rights “can’t be reached through quick and prompt justice, things unravel for business.”

A related Wall Street Journal article (subscription required) highlights some specific cases that have been delayed or derailed over the past few years due to the lack of judges available to handle the growing caseload. They include Elizabeth and Nicholas Powers, who sued their employer for sex discrimination and retaliation in 2008. As they were awaiting jury selection earlier this year, the judge halted the trial so he could preside over a growing number of criminal cases. Rather than continue to wait for a trial, the Powers settled the case.

The judge in the case, Mike McCuskey, who is also the chief federal jurist for the central district of Illinois, said in an interview he has no choice but to push back civil cases because of his criminal caseload. In 1997, federal court statistics show, Judge McCuskey’s district had 55 civil cases that were pending more than three years. Last year, it had 1,200.

"Civil litigation has ground to a halt," Judge McCuskey said, adding that "you’ve got a right to sue but you do not get a right to a speedy jury trial."

President Obama has nominated highly qualified jurists to sit on our nation’s federal courts and ensure that every American gets their day in court … if only Senate Republicans would allow that to happen.