[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 58 (Wednesday, April 3, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S2225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination.
The legislative clerk read the nomination of Roy Kalman Altman, of
Florida, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District
of Florida.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I understand the majority is
considering another change to how judicial nominees are considered.
My understanding is the majority leader may move to break the rules
of the Senate and cut the time that Senators can debate nominees after
cloture is invoked from 30 hours to 2 hours.
Just yesterday, the Senate rejected this change. The Lankford
resolution was voted on and did not receive 60 votes, let alone the 67
votes required to change the rules.
The resolution would also have changed postcloture debate time on
circuit court and Supreme Court nominees from 30 hours total to 30
hours divided between the majority and minority leaders or their
designees. This means debate on a Supreme Court nomination could be
limited to only 15 total hours of debate.
Despite bipartisan opposition to the Lankford resolution, the
majority is now considering limiting debate time by breaking
longstanding rules of the Senate.
Changing the rules is not only unnecessary, but also is dangerous,
especially when we are talking about lifetime appointments. Further,
given this administration's failure to properly vet its own nominees,
the Senate should not restrict critical vetting and due diligence.
There is simply no need to limit debate on President Trump's judicial
nominees. In fact, President Trump's judicial nominees have been
confirmed at a record pace.
Through his first 2 years in office, President Trump had more circuit
court nominees confirmed than any other President had at the same point
in their tenure--30 total. That is on top of two Supreme Court Justices
and 53 district court judges.
Further, the current administration's circuit court nominees have
been confirmed nearly twice as fast as President Obama's, 256 days for
President Obama's nominees versus 139 days for President Trump's
nominees.
The rules change is also unnecessary because Senate Democrats are in
no way obstructing confirmations. Senate Democrats have not required
cloture votes on more than half of President Trump's district court
nominees.
On average, the Senate has used only 3 hours of floor time for debate
on President Trump's district court nominees.
In addition, a higher percentage of President Trump's district court
nominees have been confirmed by voice vote as compared to President
Obama's district court nominees, 49 percent versus 35 percent. In other
words, Senate Democrats have not required the majority to hold rollcall
votes on nearly half of President Trump's nominees to the Federal
district courts.
Finally, Democrats have worked with the Trump administration to
identify qualified judicial nominees.
For example, Delaware's two Democratic Senators, Senators Carper and
Coons, worked with the White House to identify two qualified nominees
to be judges on the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.
Senators Durbin and Duckworth of Illinois worked with this
administration to identify two highly qualified nominees to be judges
on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Both of those
nominees were confirmed unanimously.
In addition, we are right now in postcloture time on the nomination
of Roy Altman to the Southern District of Florida. Several Democrats
voted for Mr. Altman in committee, and Democrats have not demanded a
full 30 hours of debate time on Mr. Altman's nomination.
Despite all of this, Republicans are nevertheless breaking the rules
and pushing the Senate closer to a body that is governed simply by the
whim of the majority.
All of this leads to an unmistakable conclusion--shortening debate
time is unnecessary. It is a response to a non-existent problem, and it
is simply a power grab meant to stack the courts at an even faster
rate.
It is also important to stress why it is so dangerous to allow the
Trump administration to stack the courts in this way, without adequate
debate time.
We have seen this administration fill lifetime positions with young,
inexperienced nominees who are often outside the legal mainstream. We
have seen them try to do this without properly vetting those same
nominees, as in the case of Brett Talley, who failed to disclose to the
Judiciary Committee nearly 15,000 online comments, including one in
which he defended the founder of the KKK.
The Senate needs sufficient time to scrutinize the records of these
nominees--nominees like Matthew Kacsmaryk and Patrick Wyrick, who have
led efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act; nominees like Brian
Buescher, who has argued that States should go after women's
reproductive rights ``bit by bit''; and nominees like Wendy Vitter, who
refused to acknowledge that Brown v. Board of Education was correctly
decided and who falsely claimed there is a connection between the use
of contraceptive pills and the incidence of cancer.
Two hours is simply not enough time to scrutinize these nominees'
records, especially when so many of this administration's judicial
nominees fail to disclose materials to the Judiciary Committee.
In conclusion, all Senators, and not just those on the Judiciary
Committee, need adequate time to review the records of these judicial
nominees, who, if confirmed, will serve for life.
All Senators need adequate time to make an informed decision about
whether these nominees are qualified to decide the fate of thousands of
people's lives. After all, the American people deserve to know that, if
they find themselves in a Federal court, they will have an impartial,
qualified, mainstream jurist who has earned the right to sit on the
bench.
This decision to break the rules and reduce debate time on judicial
nominees not only harms the institution of the Senate, but also harms
the Federal judiciary.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.