This is a an article form 99' talking about the problems Clinton had in having his judges confirmed.

..What is unprecedented now is how Republicans in the Senate, under pressure from social conservatives, have blocked the confirmation of judicial nominees almost from the outset of the Clinton presidency. They have waged an increasingly bitter war against his selection of judges ever since they gained control of the Senate following the 1994 midterm elections. They stalled the judicial appointment process in 1995 and, a year later, virtually shut it down in advance of the presidential election.

Embittered and angry over Clinton's reelection, Senate Republicans increased pressure on Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, to hold up hearings on Clinton's judicial nominees. They also pressed Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to break with tradition by allowing individual senators to place "secret holds" on nominees they opposed, thereby denying them hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ever since, the GOP-controlled Senate has been stonewalling judicial confirmations, long before the campaign for the presidential election in 2000 kicks into high gear. '

Notably, in the first half of 1999, Hatch balked at holding confirmation hearings on any of Clinton's judicial nominees, some of whom were nominated two to three years ago. Hearings were held only after Clinton agreed to name Ted Stewart to a district-court judgeship in Utah...read on