Relief finally seemed to be in sight for Utah's federal bench.

Balancing a 40 percent reduction in the number of active judgeships for nearly two years, federal judges were optimistic that at last they'd be fully staffed following the recent nominations of David Nuffer and Robert Shelby to become the next members of the Utah's U.S. District Court.

Nuffer sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee in October and was poised to be confirmed to a life time appointment by the whole senate.

But his appointment stalled earlier this month when the full Senate failed to vote on his confirmation. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, objected to the request of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, who wanted to finalize the confirmation process for dozens of judicial branch nominees before the Senate's holiday break.

The stalemate before the month-long recess means Nuffer's fate will hang in limbo until the end of January, when the Senate reconvenes.

Shelby has yet to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In the meantime, Utah's federal bench still has three full-time judges doing the work of five.

"I am frustrated, particularly with regard to Judge Nuffer. He came out of committee two months ago," said Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee on Friday. "There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't have confirmed him before we got out. I expected he would be confirmed."

President Barack Obama administration's slowness in making judicial appointments has been a source of frustration for both courts and attorneys.

Last February, the Utah State Bar and Utah Chapter of the Federal Bar Association joined forces to lobby the president and legislators to make filling judicial vacancies a priority.

Their lobbying efforts came as Utah's federal court saw increased case filings without a full complement of judges to hear the cases.

Civil and criminal case filings jumped 25 and 23 percent, respectively, according to a court analysis of cases filed between July and January during the past two years.

Before the nominations of Nuffer and Shelby, two open judgeships sat untouched for months. One of the spots sat vacant since November 2009, when Judge Dale Kimball assumed senior status — a form of semi-retirement awarded to long-serving judges. Judge Tena Campbell achieved senior status last January, meaning she is entitled to take on fewer cases.

But senior judges such as Kimball and Campbell haven't caught much of a break. They've taken on hefty workloads to keep the system afloat. Kimball, for example, presided over the six-week trial of Brian David Mitchell, who was convicted of the 2002 kidnapping and rape of Elizabeth Smart. Campbell oversaw the equally intense trial for eight members of the Tongan Crip Gang earlier this year.

All four senior judges on the federal bench continue to take prominent cases.

The reduction of judgeships in Utah — and the Senate's failure to confirm nominees this month — is problematic for several reasons, said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who has taken an interest in the Obama administration's lagging judicial appointments.

"It stalls everything for two months for these people, and that's not good. They need these people on the bench," Tobias said. "It would have been valuable to have [Nuffer] up and running."

The shortage of district judges has also led magistrate judges, who typically hear misdemeanors and prepare other cases for trial, to pick up additional cases. The court suffered another blow when J. Thomas Greene, who served part time as a federal judge with senior status, died this year.

Tobias has said the judicial vacancy rate has hovered at 11 percent during Obama's tenure — much higher than the 4 percent vacancy rate during the Bush administration but about the same as the 10 percent vacancy rate under former President Bill Clinton. Judgeship vacancies have nearly doubled since Obama took office in 2009, when only 54 seats were open, he said.

Tobias said the painstaking process that judicial nominees go through could deter some candidates from coming forward.

The irony that Nuffer hasn't been confirmed, Tobias said, is that the Senate likely has no objections to his appointment. His appointment is being held up along with 21 other judicial nominees as senators spar over another appointment — that of Richard Cordray, who is Obama's nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In the Bush administration, Tobias said, qualified judicial nominees would be voted in as a group through a voice vote. He said the process now takes much longer. Campbell for example, was nominated in 1995 and it took only eight days from the time she was nominated until she was confirmed.

"There is nothing controversial about him," Tobias said of Nuffer. "It's just a matter of getting him to the [Senate] floor."

Utah's federal bench has kept mum on the issue. But Chief Judge Ted Stewart, at a public ceremony for new U.S. Attorney for Utah David Barlow earlier this month, hinted to Utah's legislative delegation in attendance that federal judges are more than ready to be at full-staff. He told Lee and Sen. Orrin Hatch that he hoped the nominations of Nuffer and Shelby would soon be confirmed by the Senate.

Nuffer, a former president of the Utah State Bar who had worked in private practice in the St. George area, was appointed in 1995 as a magistrate judge in Utah's federal court. A magistrate serves for eight-year terms at the behest of the state's five federal judges and helps expedite court cases by holding preliminary proceedings.

Hatch, R-Utah, praised Nuffer's competence as a judge during his consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"He's a man of integrity and character and fairness and impartiality," Hatch said before the committee voted unanimously to approve Nuffer's nomination.

Nuffer said in his Judiciary Committee questionnaire that he hoped to continue to teach one class a year at Brigham Young University's law school, where he attended. Nuffer also said that he was active in the Washington County Democratic Party when in private practice.

Shelby is a personal injury attorney who currently works at the Salt Lake City law firm of Snow, Christensen & Martineau. Shelby received his B.A. in 1994 from Utah State University and received his law degree in 1998 from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Shelby was nominated for a judgeship by Obama on Dec. 1.

mrogers@sltrib.com

Twitter: @mrogers_trib —

Utah's federal judges

Senior Judge Bruce Jenkins

Nominated • Aug. 28, 1978, by President Jimmy Carter on

Confirmed • Sept. 22, 1978

Senior Judge David Sam

Nominated • Sept. 9, 1985, by President Ronald Reagan

Confirmed • Oct. 16, 1985

Judge Dee Benson

Nominated • May 16, 1991, by President George H. W. Bush

Confirmed •Sept. 12, 1991

Senior Judge Tena Campbell

Nominated • June 22, 1995, by President Bill Clinton

Confirmed • June 30, 1995

Senior Judge Dale Kimball

Nominated • Sept. 4, 1997, by President Bill Clinton

Confirmed • Oct. 21, 1997

Chief Judge Ted Stewart

Nominated • July 27, 1999 by President Bill Clinton

Confirmed • Oct. 5, 1999

Judge Clark Waddoups

Nominated • April 29, 2008 by President George W. Bush

Confirmed • Oct. 21, 2008

U.S. Magistrate David Nuffer

Nominated • In July by President Barack Obama

Confirmation • Pending

Robert J. Shelby

Nominated • in December by President Barack Obama

Confirmation • Pending

Source: www.uscourts.gov