[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 583 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 583

  Amending the Standing Rules of the Senate to ensure that the Senate 
             votes on whether to confirm judicial nominees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 28, 2016

Mr. Udall submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                 Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Amending the Standing Rules of the Senate to ensure that the Senate 
             votes on whether to confirm judicial nominees.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. VOTES ON JUDICIAL NOMINEES.

    Rule XXXI of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``8. (a) Not later than 180 days after the date on which a judicial 
nomination made by the President is received, the Senate shall vote 
on--
            ``(1) whether the Senate will advise and consent to the 
        judicial nomination; or
            ``(2) a motion to invoke cloture on the judicial 
        nomination.
    ``(b) Except as provided in subparagraph (c), if the Senate does 
not vote on whether the Senate will advise and consent to a judicial 
nomination or a motion to invoke cloture on the judicial nomination 
during the period described in subparagraph (a), on the first day on 
which the Senate is in session after the end of the period described in 
subparagraph (a)--
            ``(1) if the judicial nomination was referred to a 
        committee and has not been reported, the committee shall be 
        discharged from further consideration of the judicial 
        nomination and the judicial nomination shall be placed on the 
        calendar without any intervening action or debate;
            ``(2) the Senate shall proceed to the judicial nomination 
        without any intervening action or debate;
            ``(3) the Senate shall proceed to the question `Is it the 
        sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a 
        close?' with respect to the judicial nomination, in the same 
        manner as if a motion to invoke cloture had been made under 
        rule XXII, except that there shall be not more than 4 hours of 
        debate on such question; and
            ``(4) it shall not be in order to move to proceed to the 
        consideration of any other matter until such question is 
        disposed of.
    ``(c) Subparagraph (b) shall not apply to a judicial nomination if, 
before the end of the period described in subparagraph (a), the 
committee to which the judicial nomination has been referred votes to 
report the judicial nomination unfavorably.
    ``(d) In this paragraph, the term `judicial nomination' means the 
nomination of an individual to serve as a judge or justice appointed to 
hold office during good behavior.''.
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