Political Quotes

“``judicial emergency'' is an official term that refers to a vacancy in our court system for a court that carries a heavy caseload or a vacancy that has remained open for an extended period of time. In the United States, we now have dozens of judicial emergencies. Why are there so many judicial emergencies? Why are there so many vacancies in courts that have heavy caseloads? Why are there so many long-term vacancies? Well, the reason is simple. When it comes to confirming judges, Senate Republicans simply refuse to do their jobs. Their view seems to be very simple. If government isn't working for them or their rich friends or their rightwing allies, then they will simply refuse to let it work for anyone. Yesterday the Senate confirmed one judge, Brian Martinotti, to sit on the district court in New Jersey--one judge, one noncontroversial nominee for a noncontroversial job who had been waiting for a vote for over a year. The Republicans who control the Senate seem to think that is reasonable. It is not. Sixteen district court judges have been investigated, gone through hearings, been voted out of committee, and are pending on the Senate floor right now. One circuit court nominee is also on this list for a vacancy that has remained vacant for more than 6 years. Fourteen States have judges on this list. About half of these nominees have been sitting for nearly a year or more. These courts do an enormous amount of work. Their work is not political.…”