[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4887-4888]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                OBJECTION TO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARING

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today the Judiciary Committee was scheduled 
to welcome two of President Obama's nominees to fill vacancies on the 
Federal bench in California: Professor Goodwin Liu, nominated to fill a 
vacancy on the Ninth Circuit, and Magistrate Judge Kimberly Mueller, 
nominated to a judgeship in the Eastern District of California. 
However, we will not be able to hear from those nominees today because 
Senate Republicans have anonymously objected to the hearing. They have 
continued their ill-advised protest of meaningful health reform 
legislation by exploiting parliamentary tactics and Senate Rules, to 
the detriment of the American people and, in today's instance, at the 
expense of American justice.
  I have previously accommodated requests from Judiciary Committee 
Republicans to delay the committee's hearing to consider Professor 
Liu's nomination. I had intended to hold this hearing 2 weeks ago but, 
at the request of Republicans, delayed it until today. We had agreed, 
instead, to proceed to a hearing for Judge Robert Chatigny, a nominee 
to the Second Circuit court of appeals, on March 10. Republicans then 
reversed themselves and asked for additional delay in connection with 
that March 10 hearing. I, again, accommodated them. Earlier this week I 
sought to move this afternoon's hearing to the morning, into the 2-hour 
window of time after the Senate convened, that would not be subject to 
this arcane objection. Republicans asked that we keep it scheduled for 
this afternoon because it worked better for the schedules of the 
Republican members of the committee, and they had planned to 
participate this afternoon. Now, having objected to holding the hearing 
this morning, they object to it not being held this afternoon. They 
pulled the plug on our hearing and put up roadblocks to the committee's 
process for working to fill judicial vacancies.
  It is particularly troubling that Republicans will not allow the 
committee to hear from Professor Goodwin Liu, a widely respected 
constitutional law scholar who they targeted for criticism and 
opposition the moment he was nominated. The day Professor Liu was 
nominated, committee Republicans declared themselves ``disappointed'' 
by the President's nomination of Professor Liu and claimed that 
Professor Liu was ``far outside the mainstream of American 
jurisprudence.'' Their opposition was instantaneous and the drumbeat 
has continued. Rather than give Professor Liu a chance to answer their 
questions and respond to their attacks, Republicans have now prevented 
Professor Liu from appearing, from answering their questions, and from 
addressing their concerns. They are being unfair. They are seeking to 
render him mute by their obstruction while they continue their attacks.
  Goodwin Liu, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, has a great American 
story and sterling credentials. He did not learn English until 
kindergarten, yet rose to graduate from Stanford University and Yale 
Law School and become a Rhodes scholar. After law school, Professor Liu 
clerked for DC Circuit Judge David Tatel and Supreme Court Justice Ruth 
Bader Ginsburg. He has a brilliant legal mind and is admired by legal 
thinkers and academic scholars from across the political spectrum. As 
conceded by a Fox News commentator, Professor Liu's qualifications for 
the appellate bench are ``unassailable.''
  Professor Liu would also bring much-needed diversity to the Federal 
bench. There are currently no active Asian-American Federal appeals 
court judges in the country. Judge Denny Chin of New York has been 
nominated to the Second Circuit, but Senate Republicans have stalled 
his nomination for over 3 months, despite his unanimous approval by the 
Senate Judiciary Committee.
  Senate Republicans have not given Professor Liu fair consideration. 
Like their practice of pocket-filibustering more than 60 of President 
Clinton's judicial nominees in the 1990s, the decision by Republicans 
to block the hearing today gives Professor Liu no chance to respond to 
the attacks that they began weeks ago.
  Republicans' filibusters and stalling tactics have been evident since 
President Obama took office. Senate Republicans threatened to 
filibuster President Obama's judicial nominations before the President 
had made a single one. They insisted on filibustering the nomination of 
Judge David Hamilton of Indiana, a well-respected mainstream district 
court judge who had

[[Page 4888]]

the support of Indiana Senator Dick Lugar, the senior Republican in the 
Senate. They forced the Senate to invoke cloture, a time consuming 
process, by refusing for months to agree to debate and vote on the 
nomination of Justice Barbara Keenan of Virginia to the Fourth Circuit. 
She was then confirmed by a vote of 99 to zero.
  The Republicans tactics of obstruction have led to 22 judicial 
nominations stalled on the Senate's Executive Calendar and only 18 
circuit and district court nominations confirmed. That lack of progress 
stands in stark contrast to this date in 2002, when a Democratic Senate 
majority had proceeded to confirm 42 of President Bush's judicial 
nominations. Republicans obstruct virtually every judicial nominee. 
Even though 15 of the 18 Federal circuit and district court judges 
confirmed have been without opposition, they have delayed and stalled 
for weeks and months as Republicans drag out the process and stall 
Senate consideration by withholding their consent.
  During President Bush's first 2 years the Senate confirmed 100 of his 
judicial nominees. Republican obstruction has us on pace to confirm 
fewer than 30 Federal circuit and district court nominees before this 
Congress adjourns. Their approach has led to skyrocketing judicial 
vacancies, again, like the pocket filibusters they employed during the 
Clinton Presidency that led to a vacancy crisis in the 1990s. They do a 
disservice to the American people seeking justice in our overburdened 
Federal courts. We have to do far more to address the growing crisis of 
unfilled judicial vacancies, which now top 100. We owe it to the 
American people to do better.
  Sadly, actions like today's objections from Senate Republicans to the 
consideration of two nominations to fill vacancies on overburdened 
courts will be viewed as little more than what they are: petty, 
partisan politics with no regard for the priorities of the American 
people. I urge them to reconsider and allow this hearing to proceed.

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