[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 122 (Thursday, July 31, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5209-S5211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLOTURE MOTION
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to executive session and, pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays
before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will
state.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of
Jill A. Pryor, of Georgia, to be United State Circuit Judge
for the Eleventh Circuit.
Harry Reid, Patrick J. Leahy, Christopher A. Coons,
Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray, Amy Klobuchar, Maria
Cantwell, Jack Reed, Bill Nelson, Elizabeth Warren, Tom
Udall, Mazie K. Hirono, Richard Blumenthal, Barbara
Boxer, Tom Harkin, Benjamin L. Cardin, Charles E.
Schumer.
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, for the fifth year in a row, more than a
dozen qualified, consensus judicial nominees pending before the full
Senate will remain on the Executive Calendar during the August recess.
Each year, I have come before the Senate to remind my fellow Senators
that their refusal to take action on these nominations prior to the
August recess is an unfortunate departure from Senate tradition and to
urge them to stop their obstructive practices and delay tactics. Again,
I am disappointed to see partisanship and senseless obstruction
[[Page S5210]]
continue to keep the Senate from fulfilling its constitutional duty of
advice and consent.
We could be voting today to confirm 13 nominees to serve on our
Federal courts, 12 of whom were reported favorably by the Senate
Judiciary Committee by unanimous voice vote. Instead, we are voting to
invoke cloture on only one nomination, that of Jill Pryor, to fill a
judicial emergency vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh Circuit. She has received the American Bar Association's
highest rating of unanimously ``well qualified'' and has the support of
both of her Republican home State Senators. She will no doubt be
confirmed unanimously, or near unanimously, when we return in
September. As the senior Senator from Georgia, Mr. Chambliss, noted at
her confirmation hearing, ``Jill Pryor has been in private practice in
Atlanta for nearly 25 years. During that time she has played a pivotal
role in some of the largest and most complex cases in Georgia
history.'' We have before us an outstanding candidate to serve on the
Federal bench. Yet her nomination is being filibustered by Senate
Republicans who are delaying her vote for the sake of obstruction.
Despite this unyielding and irrational partisan strategy, the Senate
has made great strides to fill vacancies on courts around the Nation by
confirming 61 circuit and district court nominees this year. I have
heard some Republican Senators point to these confirmations to claim
that today's Senate is treating judicial nominees fairly. These
Senators overlook an important truth: This progress was made because of
the persistent dedication of the majority leader and Democratic
Senators to confront vacancies on the Federal bench and despite the
unprecedented levels of opposition and obstruction from Republican
Senators.
Because of our Democratic leadership in the Senate, there are now
fewer vacancies on the Federal courts than at any time since January
2009. Since the beginning of this year, we have reduced the vacancies
on our Federal courts by over a third, from 92 to 57, and reduced the
number of judicial emergency vacancies by nearly half, from 37 to 19.
There are now only eight vacancies on the U.S. courts of appeals. Not
since December 1990--over 23 years ago--have there been so few. This is
real progress for the millions of Americans who depend on our courts
for justice.
Many of these confirmations were of nominees to courts that began the
year with record-high numbers of vacancies. In Arizona, I worked with
Senator McCain and Senator Flake to confirm six nominees to fill
judicial emergency vacancies on their district court. In Florida, I
worked with Senator Nelson and Senator Rubio to confirm seven nominees
to fill judicial emergency vacancies in the Southern and Middle
Districts of Florida as well as on the Eleventh Circuit. These States
are success stories, and the people of Arizona and Florida are better
served for having trial and appellate judges ready to hear their cases.
No Senator should believe, however, that our work is done. There are
13 judicial nominees pending on the Senate floor who should be
confirmed without delay. Yet, even if the Senate were to confirm these
nominees today, the Federal judiciary would remain understaffed. In
addition to the 57 current vacancies, the Judicial Conference has
identified the need for 91 new judgeships in some of America's judicial
districts and circuits with the most burdensome caseloads. Last year,
Senator Coons and I introduced the Federal Judgeship Act of 2013 to
enact these recommendations into law. The timely administration of
justice should not be a partisan issue. It is an issue that affects all
Americans and the Senate should take it seriously by passing this bill.
The recommendations of the Judicial Conference only underscore how,
despite the 61 judicial confirmations so far in 2014, the Senate
continues to fall short of its obligations to the Federal judiciary and
the American people. I have heard some Republican Senators claim the
opposite by citing the total judicial confirmation figures of current
and former Presidents. It is true that the Senate has now confirmed 277
of President Obama's circuit, district, and U.S. Court of International
Trade nominees, compared to 253 confirmations at the same point in the
last administration. Yet these numbers are meaningless without
providing their proper context. These confirmations were sorely needed.
There remain 57 vacancies on the Federal bench--far more than the 42
vacancies at this point during the Bush administration. There are an
additional 24 announced future vacancies on our Federal courts that
will also need to be filled in the coming months.
Vacancies remain high not because of a failure of Senate Democrats or
President Obama to make judicial confirmations a priority; Americans
seeking justice around the country face delays because of the endless
obstruction of partisan Republicans who take every opportunity they can
to shut down the important work of the Senate. Last year, no longer
content to block individual judges, Senate Republicans attempted a
wholesale filibuster of three nominees to the DC Circuit, without even
considering their qualifications. Then, instead of confirming the
consensus judicial nominees pending on the Executive Calendar prior to
the end of the congressional session, Republicans forced the President
to renominate each nominee and the Senate Judiciary Committee to report
them again this year.
This year, Senate Republicans have proceeded to filibuster each and
every judicial nominee. After today, the Senate will have taken 62
cloture votes on judicial nominations so far this year, amounting to
well over 400 wasted hours the Senate should have spent considering
legislation to help the American people. Never before has the Senate
seen the systematic filibuster of every judicial nominee, or such
unfair treatment of qualified, consensus nominees.
The result of these tactics has been high vacancy levels on the
Federal courts. The implications of these vacancies were made clear by
a recent Brennan Center for Justice paper titled ``The Impact of
Judicial Vacancies on Federal Trial Courts.'' In it, judges and
attorneys in districts with high levels of vacancies describe the way
empty court rooms slow the administration of justice, ``raise the cost
of litigation, cause evidence to go stale, make it harder to settle
civil cases, and even put pressure on criminal defendants to plead
guilty.'' Chief Judge Leonard Davis in the Eastern District of Texas
said the impact of vacancies comes down to ``simple math.'' Vacancies
lead to heavier caseloads and judges ``have less time to give to [an
individual] case . . . It affects the quality of justice that's being
dispensed and the quantity of work you can complete.''
The incredible burden facing Federal courts in Texas is
understandable with its nine current district court vacancies--more
than any other State. Therefore, I hope that Republicans on the
Judiciary Committee, including both Senators from Texas, will be ready
to proceed with a hearing on the three pending Texas district court
nominees as soon as the Senate returns to session in September. I also
hope that the Texas Senators will continue to work with the
administration on nominees to fill the six other current district
vacancies in their State as well as the four known future district
court vacancies.
The continued high number of vacancies across our Federal courts is
unacceptable to me and should be unacceptable to every Member of this
body. The Senate should act quickly to confirm the consensus nominees
pending on the Senate floor. The Senate should also pass the Federal
Judgeship Act of 2013 to ensure that our coequal branch of government
has the resources it needs to serve its constitutionally mandated
function.
I am glad that we are voting to overcome the Republican filibuster of
the nomination of Jill Pryor, and I thank the majority leader for
taking action on her nomination. If the Senate were operating as it
once did, without this partisan treatment of judicial nominations, she
would have been confirmed weeks ago.
I hope that in the weeks following the August recess Senators will
start working together to continue the progress we have made so far in
2014. The American people deserve courts capable of providing access to
swift justice, not empty courtrooms and delays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum
call has been waived.
[[Page S5211]]
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
nomination of Jill A. Pryor, of Georgia, to be United States Circuit
Judge for the Eleventh Circuit, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN, I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mrs.
Hagan), the Senator from Iowa (Mr. Harkin), and the Senator from Hawaii
(Mr. Schatz) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr.
Cochran), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Kansas
(Mr. Roberts), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), and the
Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr.
Alexander) would have voted ``nay'' and the Senator from Texas (Mr.
Cornyn) would have voted ``nay.''
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 58, nays 33, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 256 Ex.]
YEAS--58
Ayotte
Baldwin
Begich
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Boxer
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Chambliss
Collins
Coons
Donnelly
Durbin
Feinstein
Fischer
Franken
Gillibrand
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Hirono
Isakson
Johnson (SD)
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Manchin
Markey
McCaskill
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Walsh
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--33
Barrasso
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Coats
Coburn
Corker
Crapo
Cruz
Enzi
Flake
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Johanns
Johnson (WI)
Kirk
Lee
McCain
McConnell
Moran
Paul
Portman
Risch
Rubio
Sessions
Shelby
Thune
Vitter
Wicker
NOT VOTING--9
Alexander
Cochran
Cornyn
Hagan
Harkin
Roberts
Schatz
Scott
Toomey
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote the yeas are 58, the nays are 33.
The motion is agreed to.
____________________