A way for a President to impact the United States even after his term limits have forced him out of office is to appoint judges thar share their ideology to the judiciary. Judges have longer term limits than the President does and they therefore have the ability to make landmark decisions that can shape the country long after the President has left office. Why then, one must wonder, is President Obama not taking advantage of this with judicial appointments?

This is the argument that liberals are making in America today. They are not happy with the number of nominations placed by President Obama for appellate and district court judges, nor should they be. Placing Sotomayor on the Supreme Court is not enough. With over 100 spots open for judges, President Obama needs to make a priority of this issue and realize that there is more than one court making key decisions for this country. The fact that he is not taking action is worsened by the fact that there is no better time to place nominations than today because Republicans do not have enough Senators to attempt a filibuster; this might not be true next year after the 2010 midterm elections. There are at least going to be 36 seats up for election and it is unclear that the political environment will be favorable for the President’s party.

As such, President Obama needs to take action today. Our Constitution is set up so that Senators have to approve the President’s nominations. This empowers them, it gives the Senate a say to who is going to be placed on the courts. The minority still has ability to hold back these actions, however, there is only so much that the Republican party can do to stop the nominations as currently positioned. By nominating so few judges, he is losing a key opportunity. It is important to nominate judges with high chances of getting approved, but he is wasting too much time and leaving spots open.