On the recordMarch 10, 2011
Mr. President, soon we will be voting on another nominee for district court. We continue our rapid pace in which the Senate has been confirming President Obama's judicial nominees. This vote will mark the 11th judicial nominee to be confirmed this Congress. That is more than double the number confirmed in the 108th Congress, which only saw five confirmations at this point. Obviously, actions speak louder than words. So far, our actions have had concrete results. The Judiciary Committee met this morning and reported six more judicial nominees. That puts the total at 22 nominees reported favorably so far. We continue to hold hearings every 2 weeks and have heard from 31 nominees currently pending before the Senate. As I have said in the past, we will continue to move consensus nominees through the confirmation process. However, we will continue to do our due diligence in evaluating the nominees. What we will not do is put quantity confirmed over quality confirmed. These lifetime appointments are too important to the Federal Judiciary and the American people to allow rubberstamping. Just this past Monday, the Senate confirmed three district court judges. In his statement for the record, the chairman of the committee, Senator Leahy, stated: Nearly one out of every eight Federal judgeships is vacant. This puts at serious risk the ability of all Americans to have a fair hearing in court.…





