[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3332-3333]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, each day the Senate begins its workday with 
a solemn ritual, and we just did. We pledge allegiance to our flag. 
Each day we rededicate our loyalty to this flag and to the fundamental 
pillar for which it stands--the right to justice for all. 
Unfortunately, for tens of millions of Americans, that right to equal 
justice under law is at risk, and I am sorry to say it is at risk 
because of Republican ideology.
  More than half the Nation's population--160 million Americans--live 
in parts of this country that have been declared a judicial emergency. 
What does that mean? It means that more than half the people in our 
country who seek justice in the courts and the judges find that the 
courts are strained to the breaking point under a backlog so intense an 
emergency has been declared.
  The Presiding Officer is an expert on bankruptcy and knows how 
important filling those bankruptcy slots are. One reason we are slow in 
filling those bankruptcy spots is, of course, we need more bankruptcy 
judges, but the bankruptcy judges are chosen by our Federal judiciary, 
trial court judges. They have other work to do. They are so overwhelmed 
with work to do.
  People who have businesses that they have problems dealing with 
because of Federal laws need to go to court and have those issues 
redressed. There could be injuries suffered that only the Federal 
system can relieve them of their responsibilities, such as 
discrimination because of age, gender, antitrust cases, business 
rearranging.
  Mr. President, you have heard the expression ``What are you trying to 
do, make a Federal case out of it?'' The reason people say that is the 
Federal court system is the place you go to be treated fairly. When I 
practiced law, I had great respect for the State court system, but it 
was in the minor leagues compared to when I had to go across the street 
to the Federal court--a much different setting.
  One out of every 10 Federal judgeships is now standing vacant. 
Americans can no longer rely on fair and speedy trials. The courts 
where Social Security cases are heard, appeals are heard, and 
discrimination suits are tried--I went through the whole list--simply 
do not have enough judges to handle the cases brought before them. In 
these courts, our Federal judges are being forced to limit their time 
on the cases they have. We don't want these Federal courts to be like 
traffic court judges. They have different responsibilities. We want 
people to say: What are you trying to do, make a Federal case out of 
this? We want that to mean something. And families and businesses 
typically wait for years before their civil cases are heard.
  There are some problems Congress can't solve, but this is not one of 
those problems. I repeat: This is not one of those problems.
  The Senate could act tomorrow to put highly qualified judges on the 
Federal bench, judges who are supported by both Democrats and 
Republicans.
  The Senate could act tomorrow to ease the backlog of cases, lighten 
the load of overworked judges, and shorten the time it takes to see 
justice done in our great country.
  The Senate could act tomorrow to confirm 22 judges currently ready to 
serve but awaiting Senate action. These are 22 qualified, consensus 
nominees. The overwhelming majority of them received unanimous support 
from the Judiciary Committee. They have the support of the Republican 
Senators from their home States. Eleven of these nominees would fill 
vacancies designated as judicial emergencies. I will soon announce 
cloture on all of these to bring to a stop the filibuster being 
conducted on these good men and women who want to serve. We are going 
to file on the 17th. Eleven of these people whom we are trying to get

[[Page 3333]]

confirmed are nominees from judicial emergency States. Yet the 
Republicans refuse to allow us to vote on these qualified judicial 
nominees. Republicans have prevented the Senate from doing its 
constitutional duty, and that is what it is. The House doesn't have to 
deal with this because our Constitution says it is the obligation of 
the Senate to confirm or reject the nominations the President sends to 
us. We should have up-or-down votes on these.
  The kinds of qualified consensus nominees that in years past would 
have been confirmed in days or weeks now languish for months and months 
with no action. There are judges on this list who go back to November 
of last year, not because we couldn't have done it--these could be 
confirmed in a matter of minutes. The vote should be routine.
  There should not be a fight that delays action on important jobs 
measures. Creating jobs is the Senate's No. 1 priority. Republican 
obstructionism is the only thing standing in the way of moving forward 
with additional work to get our economy back on track. Unfortunately, 
Republicans have forced our hand. What else can we do? Their endless 
obstructionism has created a judicial emergency in this country time 
and time again. At the end of last year, the Senate Republicans refused 
to allow votes on even one of the 14 judicial nominees awaiting 
confirmation last year, breaking with the Senate's longstanding 
tradition of clearing the calendar of consensus nominees at the end of 
a session. Each of these nominees was well qualified and had bipartisan 
support.
  President Obama's judicial nominations have waited an average of five 
times longer to be confirmed than those of President Bush. Look at this 
chart. These are days. President Clinton's were confirmed in a matter 
of about 5 or 6 days; President Bush's, 21 or 22 days. President 
Obama's are still skyrocketing. It is really unfair. It is unfair. It 
is not only unfair to the system, but it is unfair to these nominees. 
They are all well qualified. They received nearly unanimous support. 
They are all lawyers having to hold their practice back, waiting to see 
what is going to happen here. These are lifetime appointments. That is 
what the Founding Fathers established.
  The long waits have nothing to do with the qualifications of these 
nominations. As I have indicated, after waiting months for the Senate 
to act on these judges, they are often confirmed almost unanimously. 
What does that say? It says that the wait is dilatory. It is delay for 
delay's sake. As we know, my friend the Republican leader said his No. 
1 goal in this Congress is to defeat President Obama, and this is part 
of it.
  President Thomas Jefferson said:

       When one undertakes to administer justice, it must be with 
     an even hand, and by rule; what is done for one must be done 
     for everyone in equal degree.

  When we have judicial emergencies all over this country affecting 160 
million people, what President Jefferson said doesn't work. President 
Jefferson's principle is as true in America's court system as it is 
anyplace in America, and it should be true in the Senate. One qualified 
consensus judicial nominee ought to be treated like another regardless 
of political party and regardless of who is President, quite frankly.
  With the courts already in crisis, the Republicans could not have 
chosen a worse time to play politics with the confirmation process. So 
today I regret that I have to file cloture on a package of 17 district 
court judges. I hope we can move through these. I hope people are not 
going to be doing more dilatory tactics. If cloture is invoked, people 
have a right under our rules to hold up the next judge in line for 30 
hours. That will show what this is all about. It will show that it is 
an effort to embarrass the President and not take into consideration 
160 million people who don't have the ability to have their cases tried 
in an orderly manner.
  The motion to end a filibuster only applies to district court judges 
and trial judges. So I hope Republicans won't continue to filibuster 
appellate judges, our circuit court judges. That would be wrong. We 
would have no alternative but to take action with that. There is a 
lesser number of those, but they are very important positions.
  We have so much work to do in this body. We must complete action on 
that extremely important Transportation bill which will either save or 
create 2.8 million jobs. I will work with our Republican leader and 
finalize a path forward on a bipartisan small business jobs bill the 
House passed by a very large margin last week. We must consider postal 
reform legislation, cybersecurity legislation. We have gas prices we 
have to deal with, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women 
Act, and other issues that are important to our country.
  It is unfortunate that we had to move forward on something that is so 
glaringly wrong. Look at this. These are stats. These are not going to 
change. President Clinton's are not going to change. Whatever happened, 
happened. This is not going to change. Whatever happened, happened. 
Here, this number keeps going up. You can go back to a couple of judges 
in November, December, January, February, March. We are up to 5 months 
with some of these judges.
  I note the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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