John Sarbanes: “I think the chart the Senator has just put up is a very dramatic chart in demonstrating what has happened here. As I…”

“I think the chart the Senator has just put up is a very dramatic chart in demonstrating what has happened here. As I understand it, this chart shows the number of judges confirmed during a second Senate session in Presidential election years. We all know that what happens in a Presidential election year is that there is a slowdown because the party that does not have the White House thinks it may get the White House and then it will be able to effect the appointment of judges. I ask the Senator from Vermont, as I understand his chart, this shows that in 1996, last year, with a Democratic President and a Republican-controlled Senate, there was this incredible slowdown in the number of judges confirmed, which has continued into 1997. But in 1996, no court of appeals judges were confirmed and only 17 district judges. Is that correct?”