[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14245]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, last week, I spoke about Senate 
Republicans' virtual shutdown of the judicial nominations process since 
they took over the majority. Their refusal to respond to the urgent 
needs of our independent third branch is threatening to harm our 
justice system and rob the judiciary of outstanding public servants.
  One glaring example of this harm is the unnecessary delay of Judge 
Luis Felipe Restrepo, who was nominated last year to fill an emergency 
vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 
Pennsylvania. Judge Restrepo was unanimously confirmed 2 years ago by 
the Senate to serve as a district court judge. During his tenure as 
both a Federal district court judge and as a Federal magistrate judge, 
he has presided over 56 trials that have gone to verdict or judgment. 
He is superbly qualified, and I have heard no objection to his 
nomination. Despite his outstanding credentials and experience, it took 
the Republican majority 7 months just to schedule a hearing in the 
Judiciary Committee for this qualified nominee.
  Judge Restrepo has bipartisan support from both Pennsylvania Senators 
and was voted out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously by voice vote. 
Once confirmed, Judge Restrepo will be the first Hispanic judge from 
Pennsylvania to ever serve on this court and only the second Hispanic 
judge to serve on the Third Circuit. He has the strong endorsement of 
the nonpartisan Hispanic National Bar Association. At his confirmation 
hearing in June, Senator Toomey stated that ``there is no question 
[Judge Restrepo] is a very well qualified candidate to serve on the 
Third Circuit.'' Senator Toomey described Judge Restrepo's life story 
as ``an American Dream'' and recounted how Judge Restrepo came to the 
United States from Colombia and rose to the top of his profession by 
``virtue of his hard work, his intellect, his integrity.'' I could not 
agree more.
  Given his remarkable credentials, wealth of experience, and strong 
bipartisan support, you would think the Senate would have confirmed 
Judge Restrepo months ago. Instead, he was nominated for a judicial 
emergency vacancy back in November 2014, and for 10 months since his 
nomination, he has been denied a vote on his confirmation. No Senate 
Democrat opposes a vote on his nomination. The only ones who are 
holding up his nomination are the Senate Republicans. I have heard 
Senator Toomey indicate his strong support, and that he would like to 
see Judge Restrepo receive a vote. I know Senator Toomey can be a 
fierce advocate for issues he cares passionately about, and I hope he 
will get a firm commitment from the majority leader to schedule a 
confirmation vote this week.
  In addition to Judge Restrepo's nomination, there are 12 other 
noncontroversial judicial nominees pending on the Executive Calendar 
waiting for a vote. All of them were approved by voice vote by the 
Judiciary Committee. There is no reason for Republicans to block these 
nominees. More than 8 months into this new year, Republican leadership 
has allowed votes on just six judicial nominees. By this time in 2007, 
when I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, we had confirmed 29 
judges nominated by President Bush. That is nearly five times more 
nominees than what this Republican majority has accomplished so far 
this year. Because of the Republicans' virtual shutdown of the 
confirmation process, judicial vacancies have increased by more than 50 
percent--from 43 to 67. This is demonstrates an astounding neglect of 
the needs of our independent Third Branch.
  Instead of confirming Judge Restrepo and the 12 other 
noncontroversial judicial nominees on the Executive Calendar, 
Republicans are talking about another doomed vote on harmful 
legislation to block women's health care choices. Republicans had 
already forced a failed ``show vote'' to defund critical health 
services for women, spending 2 days on that unnecessary political 
exercise. Although Senate Republicans campaigned last year on the 
promise that they would govern responsibly if they won the majority, 
they continue to prioritize divisive issues that play only to their 
political base and yield no results for the American people.
  I am urging Republican leadership to reverse course. Confirm Judge 
Luis Felipe Restrepo without further delay, and then confirm the other 
12 noncontroversial judicial nominees pending on our Executive 
Calendar.

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