[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16888]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Republicans continue to object to requests 
for unanimous consent on basic things we should be able to do in a 
bipartisan manner here in the Senate. In addition to my request about 
gender discrimination, Republicans have previously objected to 
unanimous consent requests to allow votes on noncontroversial judicial 
nominees with bipartisan support to fill vacancies in our Federal 
judiciary. These requests are not remotely controversial; yet the 
Republicans continue to obstruct for obstruction's sake.
  Since the Republicans took over in January, their leadership has 
allowed only nine judges to be confirmed. A few district court judges 
have been confirmed in the last few weeks, but this recent increase in 
activity is in sharp contrast to their inaction all year. When Senate 
Democrats were in the majority during the last 2 years of the Bush 
Presidency, we had already confirmed 34 judges by this point--nearly 
four times more judges than Republicans have confirmed this year.
  Republicans have tried to justify their poor record by accusing 
Senate Democrats of scheduling votes for 11 judges during the lameduck 
session last December. They suggest that those 11 confirmations under 
last year's Democratic majority should somehow be counted towards this 
year's confirmation numbers. First, it is well-established Senate 
precedent to approve all pending consensus nominees before the end of a 
year. And second, even if we did ignore reality and count these 11 
judges towards the Republicans majority's record, that would only bring 
their count up to 20 confirmations this year. That is still far behind 
the 34 nominees that Democrats confirmed in the last 2 years of the 
Bush administration.
  The glacial pace in which Republicans are currently confirming 
uncontroversial judicial nominees is a failure to carry out the 
Senate's constitutional duty of providing advice and consent. We should 
be responding to the needs of our Federal judiciary so that, when hard-
working Americans seek justice, they do not encounter the lengthy 
delays that they currently face today. Because of Republican 
obstruction, judicial vacancies have increased by more than 50 percent 
since they took over the majority this January and caseloads are piling 
up in courts throughout the country.
  We can and should take action right now to alleviate this problem by 
holding confirmation votes on the 16 judicial nominees pending on the 
floor. A number of these pending nominees have the support of their 
Republican Senators; yet they continue to languish on the calendar 
without a vote.
  If Republican obstruction continues and if home State Senators cannot 
persuade the majority leader to schedule a vote for their nominees 
soon, then it is unlikely that even highly qualified nominees with 
Republican support will be confirmed by the end of the year. These are 
nominees that members of the majority leader's own party want 
confirmed, including several from Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Last 
week, we had a hearing for two Iowa nominees. I expect they will be 
reported out of the Judiciary Committee soon. We also have nominees 
from Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 
Hawaii, and Maryland who are waiting for their confirmation hearings. 
None of these nominees are likely to be confirmed by the end of the 
year if Senate Republicans continue at this historically slow pace.
  I hope Republican Senators will implore their leadership to vote on 
the pending judicial nominees without delay for the sake of the 
American people who seek justice before those courts.

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