Cory Booker: “I thank my colleague from Washington for her remarks. As for me, this is the third time this month that I have come to…”

“I thank my colleague from Washington for her remarks. As for me, this is the third time this month that I have come to the Senate floor to speak about the Supreme Court nomination currently pending before the judiciary and the judicial vacancy crisis as a whole in our country. It has been 7 months since Chief Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court, and it is still pending. It has been about 19 months since Judge Julien Neals was nominated to the District Court of New Jersey, and it is still on hold. As was the case in the last two times I have come to the floor to speak, our country is not only operating with an incomplete Supreme Court, but it is also operating with a judicial vacancy crisis across the Nation in multiple Federal courts. The Supreme Court's term is about to begin next week, and without action to schedule a vote and confirm Judge Garland's nomination, the Supreme Court will still be operating without a ninth Justice, just as it has been for the past 7 months. I do not believe that was the intention of our Framers. I do believe that because this body is not doing anything about this nomination, it is having a material effect on another branch of government, which I believe is a subversion of the framing of our Constitution and the functioning of our government. By failing to hold the vote on Judge Garland's nomination, we are continuing to cripple one of our coequal branches of government.…”