Political Quotes

“I rise to speak about the package of four Illinois district court nominees who are scheduled to receive votes on the floor this week. In my State, Democrats and Republicans have long worked together in a respectful, bipartisan way to select Federal judges. For example, when two Illinois vacancies opened up on the 7th Circuit in 2017, back before Senate Republicans decided to abandon the circuit court blue slip, we were able to negotiate a package of two well- qualified nominees, Amy St. Eve and Michael Scudder, who both were confirmed by the Senate unanimously. For district court vacancies, Illinois has a longstanding ``three to one'' system. Under this system, the President's party gets to select the candidates for three out of four district court vacancies, and the other party gets to select the candidate for the fourth. Then the parties negotiate until they reach agreement on packages of nominees that can move forward to confirmation. Under this system, Democrats and Republicans have to work together and compromise. Neither side gets everything they want, but for several decades, this bipartisan process has kept both parties at the table and has served Illinois well. During President Trump's tenure, there have been two packages of Illinois district court nominees that we have negotiated with the senior Member of the Republican congressional delegation-- Representative John Shimkus--and the White House.…”