[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 14, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1677-S1678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, yesterday I came to the floor to express my 
hope that Republicans would join together with Democrats to end the 
damaging filibusters of judicial nominations. With a judicial vacancies 
crisis that has lasted years, and nearly 1 in 10 judgeships across the 
Nation vacant, this is something the Senate needs to do. I hoped that 
we could work together to ensure that the Federal courts have the 
judges they need to provide justice for all Americans without needless 
delay.
  Today there are 22 circuit and district court nominations ready for 
Senate consideration and a final confirmation vote. They were all 
reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee after thorough review. 
All but a handful are by any measure consensus nominations. There was 
never any good reason for the Senate not to proceed to votes on these 
nominations. It should not have taken cloture motions to get agreement 
to schedule votes on these qualified, consensus judicial nominations. A 
dozen of the nominations on which agreement has now been reached have 
been stalled for months and were reported last year.
  These are qualified judicial nominees. They are nominees whose 
judicial philosophy is well within the mainstream. These are all 
nominees supported by their home State Senators, both Republican and 
Democratic. The consequence of these months of delays is borne by the 
nearly 160 million Americans who live in districts and circuits with 
vacancies that could be filled as soon as Senate Republicans agree to 
up-or-down votes on the 22 judicial nominations currently before the 
Senate awaiting a confirmation vote.
  In light of the agreement reached between the leaders, the Senate 
will finally be allowed to consider the nomination of Judge Gina Groh 
of West Virginia. Her nomination has been stalled for more than 5 
months. We will also finally be able to consider other long-stalled 
nominations like that of Michael Fitzgerald to fill a judicial 
emergency vacancy on the Central District of California, which has been 
ready for a vote for well over 4 months. The delays in confirmations 
mean justice delayed for millions of Americans.
  I went back and checked my recollection of how we considered 
consensus Federal trial court nominees in President Bush's first term. 
Nearly 60 were confirmed within a week of being reported by the Senate 
Judiciary Committee. By contrast, there have only been two judicial 
nominees voted on so

[[Page S1678]]

promptly since President Obama took office. I said at the time we were 
able to vote on the Alabama nominee supported by Senator Sessions, who 
was at that time the committee's ranking Republican member, and on 
Judge Reiss of Vermont that I hoped they would become the model for 
regular order. Instead, they stand out as isolated exceptions to the 
months of delay Senate Republicans have insisted on before considering 
consensus Federal trial court nominees of this President.
  I am glad that there is finally agreement to proceed, as well, with 
circuit nominees. Two delayed from last year are outstanding women: 
Stephanie Dawn Thacker of West Virginia, nominated to the Fourth 
Circuit, and Judge Jacqueline Nguyen of California, nominated to fill 
one of the many judicial emergency vacancies on the Ninth Circuit. Ms. 
Thacker, an experienced litigator and prosecutor, has the strong 
support of her home State Senators, Senators Rockefeller and Manchin. 
Judge Nguyen, whose family fled to the United States in 1975 after the 
fall of South Vietnam, was confirmed unanimously to the district court 
in 2009 and would become the first Asian Pacific American woman to 
serve on a U.S. court of appeals. Both were reported unanimously by the 
Judiciary Committee last year and both should be confirmed by the 
Senate without additional damaging delays.
  I am pleased that the majority leader and the Republican leader have 
now come to an understanding and a path forward on these important 
judicial nominations. Their agreement not only helps work through the 
backlog of nominations stalled before the Senate, it paves the way for 
votes on 14 of the 22 current judicial nominations and provides a 
pattern for continuing to make progress beyond those 14 and beyond the 
current 22. There are another 8 judicial nominees who have had hearings 
and are working their way through the committee process. In addition, 
there are another 11 nominations on which the committee should be 
holding additional hearings during the next several weeks. By working 
steadily and by continuing the resumption of the regular consideration 
of judicial nominations, I hope the understanding between the leaders' 
signals we can have a positive impact and reduce judicial vacancies 
significantly before the end of the year. In 2004 and 2008, both 
Presidential election years, by working together we were able to reduce 
judicial vacancies to the lowest levels in decades.
  Our courts need qualified Federal judges, not vacancies, if they are 
to reduce the excessive wait times that burden litigants seeking their 
day in court. It is unacceptable for hard-working Americans who turn to 
their courts for justice to suffer unnecessary delays. When an injured 
plaintiff sues to help cover the cost of his or her medical expenses, 
that plaintiff should not have to wait 3 years before a judge hears the 
case. When two small business owners disagree over a contract, they 
should not have to wait years for a court to resolve their dispute.
  Never before in the Senate's history have I seen the confirmation of 
qualified, consensus district court nominees supported by their home 
State Senators and reported by the Judiciary Committee blocked for 
months. We remain 40 confirmations and 9 months behind the pace we set 
during 2001 through 2004, during President Bush's first term. The 
judicial vacancy rate remains nearly double what it was at this time 
during his first term.
  We 100 Senators stand in the shoes of over 300 million Americans. It 
is good to see the Senate agreeing to end the partisan stalling and 
schedule votes on these long-delayed and much-needed judges.

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