Now that the 112th Senate’s second session is taking its first recess, this is an ideal moment to analyze lower federal court judicial selection. The bench experiences 84 vacancies in the 858 appellate and district court judgeships, three of which are in Florida. These openings, which constitute 10 percent of the positions, erode swift, economical and fair case disposition.

Thus, President Obama must expeditiously nominate, and the Senate should promptly confirm, lower court nominees, so that the courts can deliver justice.

Some observers criticized Obama for suggesting too few nominees his first year, but he has since accelerated the pace. The administration has vigorously consulted by seeking the advice of Republican and Democratic senators from jurisdictions with judicial openings before making official nominations. Obama has proffered uncontroversial nominees, who are smart, ethical, hard working and independent, process balanced temperament and are diverse in terms of ethnicity, gender and ideology.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Senate Judiciary Committee chair, has quickly conducted hearings and votes, sending nominees to the floor where numbers have languished for months. For example, on Dec. 17, the Senate recessed without considering any of 21 well qualified nominees, 16 of whom the committee unanimously approved, on its calendar because the GOP refused to vote on them.

The principal bottleneck remains the Senate floor. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, has infrequently entered time agreements for votes. The unanimous consent measure, which the GOP deployed in mid December, permits one member to halt floor ballots; this procedure has stalled many nominees. Most troubling has been Republican refusal to vote on noncontroversial strong nominees. When the chamber has eventually voted on nominees, the Senate has overwhelmingly approved many.

The 179 appellate judgeships, 16 of which are vacant, are critical. Obama has proposed strong nominees, and he should continue working with Leahy and Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, and their Republican counterparts to facilitate confirmation while nominating excellent candidates for the seven openings that lack nominees.

Until last week there was an opening in a Florida Eleventh Circuit seat, which had been vacant since February 2011 when Judge Susan Black assumed senior status. On Aug. 2, Obama nominated highly respected U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jose Jordan of Miami, whom the Judiciary Committee unanimously approved four months ago.

Last week, the Senate finally voted 89-5 to end debate, the procedural step that leads to a vote. On Wednesday, the Senate voted 94-5 to confirm Judge Jordan because he earned the highest American Bar Association rating, was noncontroversial and received strong support from Florida Sens. Bill Nelson (D) and Marco Rubio (R). Only sheer obstructionism explains why an outstanding judge had to wait four months on a floor vote

The 679 district judgeships, 68 of which are open, are essential. The Middle, Northern and Southern Districts of Florida each have one vacancy. Obama has nominated competent replacements. One of them is Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum for the Southern District and another is Circuit Judge Mark E. Walker for the Northern District whom Obama nominated on Thursday.

The president must quickly propose candidates for the 40 vacancies without nominees, including the opening in the Middle District of Florida, after consulting with members of the Senate. For its part, the Senate should rapidly consider the nominees.

Republican senators can help by avoiding the kind of treatment like they accorded Jesse Furman, a Southern District of New York nominee who had to wait months even though he received unanimous committee approval on Sept. 15, 2011, and had the strong endorsement of Michael Mukasey, President George W. Bush’s attorney general. Furman finally won confirmation on a 62-34 last Friday after Democrats demanded a showdown vote to end debate.

The vacancies in 84 judgeships undermine swift, economical and fair resolution. Thus, Obama must rapidly nominate, and senators must expeditiously confirm, numerous outstanding judges before the presidential election further slows the process.

Carl Tobias is the Williams Professor at the University of Richmond Law School.