President Trump's judicial nominees have often been criticized as unqualified, chosen more for ideology than for legal ability.
Richard E. Myers II, his new appointee as a U.S. District Judge for Eastern North Carolina, doesn't fit that description.
We may be biased. From 1991 to 1995, Myers was a reporter at the StarNews, and a fine one. He covered primarily the crime beat, including the murder of James Jordan, father of Michael Jordan.
While working full-time, he earned a master's degree in history at UNCW. He left the StarNews for law school at UNC Chapel Hill, where he was an editor of the law review, a mark of scholarship and proven ability.
As a lawyer, he served as a clerk to a federal judge and as both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer. Perhaps his most famous case was defending Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-American scientist accused of spying for China. (Lee was eventually cleared of all but a minor charge of mishandling classified material, and the federal government eventually paid $895,000 in damages for misconduct in his case.)
Myers' conservative credentials are solid: he is a member of the Federalist Society. He spent 15 years teaching at UNC's law school, published extensively and was appointed to a "distinguished" chair. His appointment was confirmed by a 68-21 bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate.
From all evidence, Myers will make a distinguished federal judge for North Carolina. What's disturbing, however, is that his seat on the bench remained empty for 14 years before he was finally confirmed earlier this month.
President Obama appointed two nominees for the seat, including a state Supreme Court justice and a former member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, but both stalled in the Senate.
President George W. Bush and President Trump both tried to appoint Thomas Farr, a North Carolina lawyer with Republican ties, but the nomination stalled. His involvement in efforts and gerrymandering and voter ID laws rendered his candidacy toxic.
The 14-year vacancy for the seat is a record in the federal judiciary. This is unacceptable. Federal judges handle vital legal business; When they're not on the job, cases back up and criminals go unpunished.
Both parties have gone out of their way to block judicial nominations for partisan motives.
The Republicans, however, seem to have played this game far more ruthlessly. Dozens of other Obama nominees were sidelined in the Republican-controlled Senate.
When Trump took office, though, the floodgates magically opened. Dozens of his appointments were rapidly confirmed. Now, roughly one in four active federal judges is a Trump appointee. They will stay judges for a long time.
Going without a judge for 14 years is way too long. Regardless of whoever wins the presidency in 2020, someone is going to have to figure out a way to fix this system and make sure our jurists are chosen for something more than party loyalty.
StarNews of Wilmington, a Gannett publication
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Editorial: How politics harms justice
