Liberals had hoped he would counter a slew of conservative appointments in federal courts made by his Republican predecessors. But that hasn't happened.
President Obama's appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is one high-profile success. UC Berkeley professor Goodwin Liu has been nominated to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, but he is expected to meet significant GOP resistance. (Dilip Vishwanat, Getty Images; Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images; Laura Morton, For The Times)
An early chance for the Obama administration to reshape the nation's judiciary -- and counter gains made in the federal courts by conservatives -- appears close to slipping away, due to a combination of White House inattention and Republican opposition.
During President Obama's first year, judicial nominations trickled out of the White House at a far slower pace than in President George W. Bush's first year. Bush announced 11 nominees for federal appeals courts in the fourth month of his tenure. Obama didn't nominate his 11th appeals court judge until November, his 10th month in office.
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