Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak on the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to be a judge of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia. I have carefully considered the background of this nominee and undertaken a full review of her public record as well as the records of the Judiciary Committee hearings. I have also looked closely at the actual staffing needs of the court to which she has been nominated. While my review leads me to conclude that Ms. Halligan is well qualified, I am not convinced that the workload of the court justifies filling the seat, and on that basis, I oppose the nomination. This vacancy has existed since 2005 when then-Judge John Roberts was elevated to the Supreme Court. In June 2006, President Bush nominated Peter Keisler to fill the seat. Despite Mr. Keisler's strong qualifications, Democrats held up his nomination for a total of 918 days; it eventually had to be withdrawn. Central to their objection to Mr. Keisler's nomination was their contention that the court's caseload did not justify filling the vacancy. As expressed by a Democratic Judiciary Committee member during Mr. Keisler's confirmation hearing and later reiterated by all eight committee Democrats in a letter to the chairman urging the nomination be put on hold: We are putting the cart before the horse here. . . . Here are the questions that just loom out there. Is there a genuine need to fill this seat? Has not the workload of the D.C. Circuit gone down?…”