[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 29, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7791-S7792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      DELAYS IN CONSIDERATION OF THE NOMINATION OF RONNIE L. WHITE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the question of 
nominations. We are approaching another Senate recess. We ought to act 
on judicial nominations, the longstanding vacancies in the Federal 
courts around this country. This is the fourth extended Senate recess 
this year. So far this year, the Senate has confirmed only two judicial 
nominees for the longstanding vacancies that plague the Federal courts. 
That is one judge per calendar quarter; it is one half a judge per 
Senate vacation. We should do better.
  Let me focus on one: Justice Ronnie White. This past weekend marked 
the 2-year anniversary of the nomination of this outstanding jurist to 
what is now a judicial emergency vacancy on the U.S. District Court in 
the Eastern District of Missouri. He is currently a member of the 
Missouri Supreme Court.
  He was nominated by President Clinton in June of 1997, 2 years ago. 
It took 11 months before the Senate would even allow him to have a 
confirmation hearing. His nomination was then reported favorably on a 
13-3 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 21, 1998. Senators 
Hatch, Thurmond, Grassley, Specter, Kyl and DeWine were the Republican 
members of the committee who voted for him along with the Democratic 
members. Senators Ashcroft, Abraham, and Sessions voted against him.
  Even though he had been voted out overwhelmingly, he sat on the 
calendar, and the nomination was returned to the President after 16 
months with no action.
  The President has again renominated him. I call again upon the Senate 
Judiciary Committee to act on this qualified nomination. Justice White 
deserves better than benign neglect. The people in Missouri deserve a 
fully qualified and fully staffed Federal bench.
  Justice White has one of the finest records--and the experience and 
standing--of any lawyer that has come before the Judiciary Committee. 
He has served in the Missouri legislature, the office of the city 
counselor for the City of St. Louis, and he was a judge in the Missouri 
Court of Appeals for the Eastern District of Missouri before his 
current service as the first African American ever to serve on the 
Missouri Supreme Court.
  Having been voted out of Committee by a 4-1 margin, having waited for 
2 years, this distinguished African American at least deserves the 
respect of this Senate, and he should be allowed a vote, up or down. 
Senators can stand up and say they will vote for or against him, but 
let this man have his vote.
  The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court wrote in his 
Year-End Report in 1997: ``Some current nominees have been waiting a 
considerable time for a Senate Judiciary Committee vote or a final 
floor vote. The Senate confirmed only 17 judges in 1996 and 36 in 1997, 
well under the 101 judges it confirmed in 1994.'' He went on to note: 
``The Senate is surely under no obligation to confirm any particular 
nominee, but after the necessary time for inquiry it should vote him up 
or vote him down.''
  For the last several years I have been urging the Judiciary Committee 
and the Senate to proceed to consider and confirm judicial nominees 
more promptly and without the years of delay that now accompany so many 
nominations. I hope the committee will not delay any longer in 
reporting the nomination of Justice Ronnie L. White to the United 
States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and that the 
Senate will finally act on the nomination of this fine African-American 
jurist.
  I have been concerned for the last several years that it seems women 
and minority nominees are being delayed and not considered. I spoke to 
the Senate about this situation on May 22, June 22 and, again, on 
October 8 last year. Over the last couple of years the Senate has 
failed to act on the nominations of Judge James A. Beaty, Jr. to be the 
first African-American judge on the Fourth Circuit; Jorge C. Rangel to 
the Fifth Circuit; Clarence J. Sundram to the District Court for the 
Northern District of New York; Anabelle Rodriguez to the District Court 
in Puerto Rico; and many others. In explaining why he chose to withdraw 
from consideration after waiting 15 months for Senate consideration, 
Jorge Rangel wrote to the President and explained:

       Our judicial system depends on men and women of good will 
     who agree to serve when asked to do so. But public service 
     asks too much when those of us who answer the call to service 
     are subjected to a confirmation process dominated by 
     interminable delays and inaction. Patience has its virtues, 
     but it also has its limits.

  Last year, Senator Kennedy observed that women nominated to federal 
judgeships ``are being subjected to greater delays by Senate 
Republicans than men. So far in this Republican Congress, women 
nominated to our federal courts are four times--four times--more likely 
than men to be held up by the Republican Senate for more than a year.''
  Justice White remains one of the 10 longest-pending judicial 
nominations before the Senate, along with Judge Richard Paez and Marsha 
Berzon.
  I have noted that Justice White's nomination has already been pending 
for over two years. By contrast, I note that in the entire four years 
of the Bush Administration, when there was a Democratic majority in the 
Senate, only three nominations took as long as nine months from initial 
nomination to confirmation--that is three nominations taking as long as 
270 days in four years.
  Last year the average for all nominees confirmed was over 230 days 
and 11 nominees confirmed last year alone took longer than nine months: 
Judge William Fletcher's confirmation took 41 months--the longest-
pending judicial nomination in the history of the United States; Judge 
Hilda Tagle's confirmation took 32 months, Judge Susan Oki Mollway's 
confirmation took 30 months, Judge Ann Aiken's confirmation took 26 
months, Judge Margaret McKeown's confirmation took 24 months, Judge 
Margaret Morrow's confirmation took 21 months, Judge Sonia Sotomayor's 
confirmation took 15 months, Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer's confirmation 
took 14 months, Judge Dan Polster's confirmation took 12 months, and 
Judge Victoria Roberts' confirmation took 11 months. Of these 11, eight 
are women or minority nominees. Another was Professor Fletcher, held 
up, in large measure because of opposition to his mother, Judge Betty 
Fletcher.
  In 1997, of the 36 nominations eventually confirmed, 10 took more 
than 9 months before a final favorably Senate vote and 9 of those 10 
extended over a year to a year and one-half. Indeed, in the four years 
that the Republican majority has controlled the Senate, the nominees 
that are taking more than 9 months has grown almost tenfold from 3 
nominations to almost 30 over the last four years.
  In 1996, the Republican Senate shattered the record for the average 
number of days from nomination to confirmation for judicial 
confirmation. The average rose to a record 183 days. In 1997, the 
average number of days from nomination to confirmation rose 
dramatically yet again, and that was during the first year of a 
presidential term. From initial nomination to confirmation, the average 
time it took for Senate action on the 36 judges confirmed in 1997 broke 
the 200-day barrier

[[Page S7792]]

for the first time in our history. It was 212 days.
  Unfortunately, that time is still growing and the average is still 
rising to the detriment of the administration of justice. Last year the 
Senate broke its dismal record. The average time from nomination to 
confirmation for the 65 judges confirmed in 1998 was over 230 days.
  Acting to fill judicial vacancies is a constitutional duty that the 
Senate--and all of its members--are obligated to fulfill. In its 
unprecedented slowdown in the handling of nominees since the 104th 
Congress, the Senate is shirking its duty. That is wrong and should 
end.
  As the Senate recesses for the Independence Day holiday, I hope 
Senators will reflect on this record and the need to maintain the 
independence of the judiciary by acting more promptly on the 
nominations of the many fine men and women pending before us. We have 
45 nominations still pending, the Senate having only acted on only two 
all year. The courts are faced with 72 vacancies, many of extensive 
duration. The Senate recesses with a sorry record of inaction on 
judicial nominations.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.

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