Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am going to vote for both judges today. But today I want to inform my fellow Senators and American people regarding the facts on judicial nominations. Today, we will confirm two more nominees. I would note that we confirmed two judges just 4 days ago. After today, the Senate will have confirmed 197 lower court nominees; we have defeated two. That is 197-2. That is an outstanding record. That is a success rate of 99 percent. And we have been doing that at a fast pace. During the last Congress we confirmed more judges than any Congress since the 103rd Congress, which was 1993-94. This year, the beginning of President Obama's second term, we have already confirmed more judges than were confirmed in the entire first year of President Bush's second term. Let me emphasize that again--We have already confirmed more nominees this year than we did during the entirety of 2005, the first year of President Bush's second term. After today, only five article III judges remain on the Executive Calendar--three district nominees and two Circuit nominees. Two of those were reported out last week, two more about a month ago, and one has been on the calendar for about two months. Yet, somehow Senate Democrats cite this as evidence of obstructionism. Compare that to the calendar of June 2004, when 30 judicial nominations were on the Calendar--10 Circuit and 20 District. In fact, four of those were from Pennsylvania, as is one of our nominees today.…”