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The Reagan record in this area is particularly distressing to many because of his predecessor's success at increasing the representation of those groups on the bench. Of Carter's 262 appointments, 15.3% were women, 14.5% were black and 6.1% were Hispanic. Jonathan Rose, an Assistant Attorney General, maintains that the country is paying for Carter's high percentages. "Some of those judges can't carry the load; some are weak in areas of the law," says Rose. "I'm not sure the aim of diversity is well served if quality is sacrificed at the same time."
That critique will scarcely calm angry minorities and women. "We knew darn well they weren't going to be appointing Hispanics in this Administration," says Arnold Torres, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. Torres adds that his organization no longer bothers to lobby the White House on judicial choices. His anguish is shared by District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Gladys Kessler, head of the National Association of Women Judges. "The record is dismal," says Kessler. "We have some grave concerns about whether this Administration is really looking for women candidates." She also charges that potential female judges are being scrutinized more closely than males on their opposition to abortion.
"I wish she were right, but she is dead wrong," complains Dr. J.C. Willke, president of the National Right to Life Committee. The Administration is failing to emphasize nominees' views on the issue, he insists. "This is our greatest disappointment." But on other matters political and philosophical, the Reagan judges seem to be just what he promised voters two years ago.
It is as traditional as campaign buttons for Presidents to nominate like-minded judges, but Reagan has been unusually loyal to his party. Says University of Massachusetts Politics Professor Sheldon Goldman, a longtime student of appointments: "This Administration has selected a higher percentage of partisans than any since Woodrow Wilson's." Goldman calculates that Reagan has gone outside his party for only 2.9% of his district court appointments, compared with 4.5% for Jimmy Carter and 7.2% for Richard Nixon. One aspect of the political pattern has even the Administration upset, however. Under the longstanding system of "senatorial courtesy," the President generally fills vacancies from lists provided by Republican Senators. This is one reason for the heavy white, male tilt, say Administration officials. They recently passed the word to Senate leaders that the President wants more minorities and women among the proposed names.