[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 41 (Thursday, April 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3122-S3123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LEAHY:
  S. 1906. A bill to require the Senate to remain in session to act on 
judicial nominations in certain circumstances; to the Committee on 
Rules and Administration.


           the judicial emergency responsibility act of 1998

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, last week, faced with five continuing 
vacancies on a 13-member Court, Chief Judge Winter of the United States 
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit certified the judicial 
emergency caused by these continuing vacancies, began canceling 
hearings and took the unprecedented step in the Second Circuit of 
authorizing 3-judge panels to be composed of two visiting judges and 
only one Second Circuit Judge.

  The Judiciary Committee has reported to the Senate the nomination of 
Judge Sotomayor to the Second Circuit, but her nomination continues to 
sit on the Senate calendar. Her nomination was received back in June 
1997. She was favorably reported by a Committee vote of 16 to 2, once 
the Committee finally considered her nomination. She is strongly 
supported by both New York Senators, yet the nomination continues to 
languish without consideration.
  Three additional outstanding Second Circuit nominees are pending 
before the Judiciary Committee and await their confirmation hearings. 
Judge Rosemary Pooler was nominated back on November 6, 1997, as was 
Robert Sack, a partner in the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. The 
final pending nomination to the Second Circuit was received two months 
ago, back on February 11, when the President nominated Chester J. 
Straub, a partner in the law firm of Wilkie Farr & Gallagher.
  I have been urging action on the nominees to the Second Circuit for 
many months. The Senate is failing in its obligations to the people of 
the Second Circuit, to the people of New York, Connecticut and Vermont. 
We should call an end to this stall and take action.
  Last Friday I urged consideration of the nomination of Judge 
Sotomayor without further delay and requested that the Judiciary 
Committee proceed to hold the necessary hearings on the three other 
Second Circuit nominees this week so that they, too, might be confirmed 
before the upcoming recess.
  I do not believe that the Senate should be leaving for two weeks' 
recess and leaving the Second Circuit with vacancies for which it has 
qualified nominations pending. This is too reminiscent of the 
government shutdown only a couple of years ago and the numerous times 
of late when the Republican congressional leadership has recessed 
without completing work on emergency supplemental and disaster relief 
legislation.
  In his most recent Report on the Judiciary the Chief Justice of the 
United States Supreme Court warned that persisting vacancies would harm 
the administration of justice. The Chief Justice of the United States 
Supreme Court pointedly declared: ``Vacancies cannot remain at such 
high levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice that 
traditionally has been associated with the federal judiciary.''
  The people and businesses in the Second Circuit need additional 
federal judges confirmed by the Senate. Indeed, the Judicial Conference 
of the United States recommends that in addition to the 5 vacancies, 
the Second

[[Page S3123]]

Circuit be allocated an additional 2 judgeships to handle its workload. 
The Second Circuit is suffering harm from Senate inaction. That is why 
the Chief Judge of the Second Circuit had to declare the Circuit in a 
state of emergency.
  Must we wait for the administration of justice to disintegrate 
further before the Senate will take this crisis seriously and act on 
the nominees pending before it? I hope not.
  As part of my efforts to encourage the Senate to do its job, I am 
today introducing the Judicial Emergency Responsibility Act. The 
purpose of this bill is to supplement the law by which Chief Justice 
Winter certified the emergency and to require the Senate to do its duty 
and to act on judicial nominations before it recesses for significant 
stretches of time when a Circuit Court is suffering from a vacancy 
emergency.
  I urge prompt action on the bill and immediate action on the 
nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Second Circuit.
                                 ______