MEDIA ADVISORY


COMMISSION STUDYING DELAYS IN NAMING FEDERAL JUDGES
TO PRESENT RECOMMENDATIONS MAY 15 IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

	A national bi-partisan commission on the crisis in the
federal court system caused by delays in filling judgeships will
present recommendations for improving the selection process at a
news conference Wednesday, May 15, in Washington, D.C.  The news
conference will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Mayflower Hotel (Chinese
Room), 1127 Connecticut Avenue NW.

	The commission, organized and sponsored by the Miller Center
of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, is co-chaired by
former Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach and former Deputy
Attorney General Harold R. Tyler Jr.

	Other commission members, several of whom will be present at
the news conference, are:

	Former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.)
	Former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.)
	Former White House counsel Lloyd N. Cutler (Carter and
Clinton administrations)
	Lovida H. Coleman Jr., a Washington, D.C., attorney
 	Former White House counsel Fred F. Fielding (Reagan
administration)
	Leon A. Higginbotham Jr., former U.S. District Judge in
Pennsylvania and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge, Philadelphia
	Frederick B. Lacey, former U.S. District Judge in New Jersey
	Daniel J. Meador, the James Monroe Professor of Law Emeritus
at U.Va. and former chair of the ABA's Standing Committee on Federal
Judicial Improvements
	Kimba Wood, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of
New York

	The federal court system has been plagued for more than a
decade by significant and growing numbers of vacancies, delays in
the appointment process and backlogs of pending appointments.
Although the Clinton administration has appointed a larger number of
judges than other recent administrations, the problem remains a
severe one, in part because new judgeships have been created to deal
with an increasing workload.

	The commission has conducted interviews with all of the
participants in the process of judicial selection, including
representatives from the White House, Justice Department, FBI,
American Bar Association and Senate Judiciary Committee.  The
commission also invited and received suggestions from federal judges
throughout the country.

	Miller Center director Kenneth W. Thompson is coordinator
and contact for the project.This is the seventh Miller Center
commission seeking to address urgent problems of public affairs.

	The report of the Miller Center Commission on the Selection
of Federal Judges will be available at the news conference.

	For additional information please contact Kenneth Thompson
at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at (804) 924-7236 or Bob
Brickhouse at University of Virginia News Services at (804) 924 6856
or 924-7116.  Television reporters should contact our TV News Office
at (804) 924-7550.

###

May 9, 1996