Wayne Allard: “Now some of my colleagues have proudly said they have acted on 98 percent of the judicial nominations sent to the Senate…”

“Now some of my colleagues have proudly said they have acted on 98 percent of the judicial nominations sent to the Senate for confirmation. I would just simply like to point out that if we would only accept a 98 percent success rate, say, on flight safety, there would be 1,740 flights a day that would not land safely. Five hundred major organ transplants would be performed incorrectly and more than 4 billion letters would be mishandled by the U.S. Postal Service this year. Ninety-eight percent, when we are talking about district as well as circuit court, simply is not good enough. On a personal note, I ask my colleagues, what would they want from their veterinarian performing a 98 percent success rate on their pet? My colleague is a veterinarian from Nevada. I am a veterinarian. That would not be acceptable to my colleagues. At that particular rate, I do not think we would be in business very long. Some in this body may believe 98 percent is good enough, but clearly it is not good enough. I point out one example of the new judicial nomination double standard in the Senate that resulted in an outstanding nominee, Miguel Estrada, not being given a fair up-or-down vote.”