Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this week the Senate is going to have an opportunity to confirm the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to serve on the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In doing so, we can correct a mistake the Senate made in the last Congress. Ms. Halligan is an extraordinarily well-qualified nominee. She has the intellect, experience, temperament to be an outstanding Federal appellate judge. On December 6, 2011, Caitlin Halligan's nomination was stopped by a filibuster by Republican Senators. Forty-five Republicans voted against the cloture motion on her nomination, thus denying Ms. Halligan an up- or-down vote. That killed her nomination for that Congress. She has now been renominated in this Congress for the DC Circuit, and the court needs her. Right now there are only seven active status judges on the DC Circuit. There are supposed to be 11. Four seats are vacant, including one vacancy that opened just last month. This is untenable. Retired DC Circuit Judge Patricia Wald has served as chief judge of the circuit for 5 years. She wrote in the Washington Post last month that: There is cause for extreme concern that Congress is systematically denying the court the human resources it needs to carry out its weighty mandates. It is time to address this vacancy situation by giving Ms. Halligan an up-or-down vote and confirming her nomination. She is eminently qualified.…”