[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10708]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I inform the Senate that the three judges 
from Florida we are about to vote on have the support of Senator Rubio 
and I. It is as a result of a bipartisan process. It is actually a 
nonpartisan process as to how we select our judges in Florida. Senator 
Rubio and I appoint a judicial nominating commission in the three 
judicial districts in Florida. They then, when there is a vacancy of a 
judge or U.S. attorney or U.S. marshal, receive the applications, do 
the interviews, and make--for one vacancy--three recommendations. 
Senator Rubio and I then take these three recommendations; the two of 
us together interview the applicants. The arrangement we have with the 
White House--and of course we know the President could select whomever 
he wants, but the White House has graciously agreed, and this has been 
a longstanding practice with the Federal judge selections from Florida, 
the White House has agreed they will pick from among the three we send.
  Senator Rubio and I send comments to the White House about the three, 
even though what we primarily do is tell the White House if we have an 
objection to any one of the three who come through the judicial 
nominating commission process.
  Therefore, what we do is we take politics out of the selection of 
judges.
  I highly recommend to the Senate Paul Byron and Carlos Eduardo 
Mendoza, both of the Middle District, and Beth Bloom of the Southern 
District.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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