Bob Dole: “when the Constitution was drafted so many years ago, it outlined a process by which the President of the United States…”

“when the Constitution was drafted so many years ago, it outlined a process by which the President of the United States would nominate judges with the ``advice and consent'' of the U.S. Senate. The filibuster expands the Senate's advice and consent role in nominations well beyond what the Constitution envisioned. And for too long, politics has prevented the Senate from doing its constitutional duty. The judicial process is obviously gridlocked. Qualified candidates have been nominated only to find that they are unable to get proper consideration on the Senate floor. In the meantime, burgeoning court dockets, delayed trials and overworked judges have become the norm for far too many of our courts, especially in North Carolina. This simply isn't right. Every President, Republican or Democrat, deserves to have his nominees voted on. Every Senator has a responsibility to exercise his or her constitutional duty to vote on the President's nominees, and every nominee deserves a hearing, a committee vote, and an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. Americans deserve courts that are staffed with qualified judges, and the process should be absolutely free of politics. I was sworn in as a U.S. Senator to represent 8 million North Carolinians. In doing so, I took an oath to fulfill the duties of this office, including one of a Senator's most important responsibilities-- voting on judicial nominees submitted by the President.”