Chuck Grassley: “for several days now, the Senate has been debating two nominees for the Federal bench, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers…”

“for several days now, the Senate has been debating two nominees for the Federal bench, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. I come to the floor to express my support for these two highly qualified women, and I also do it to urge my colleagues to support an up-or-down vote so that these folks know whether a majority of the Senate is consenting to their nomination by the President of the United States, in other words, confirm these two highly qualified judges. One of the most important roles that we Senators have is the responsibility of advising and consenting to individuals that the President has nominated to fill positions on the three levels of the Federal judiciary. But this responsibility has been threatened by actions of Democratic leadership. Of course, that has brought us to this extended debate, over several days now, about the role of the Senate as expressed in the Constitution about the handling of Federal judges nominated by the President. It seems to me the Constitution is very clear on the role of the Senate in this judicial confirmation process. Judicial nominees are chosen by the President with the advice and consent of this body. Until President Bush was elected, no one ever interpreted this requirement to mean anything but a simple majority vote of those present and voting in the Senate. For over 200 years, no judicial nomination, with a clear majority support in the Senate, had ever been denied an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.…”