On the recordMay 22, 2013
in school we studied a lot of things. But one of the things I cannot forget is George Orwell's ``1984.'' It was an interesting book because in that book he talked about people coming to a time when whatever they said was factually just the opposite. Here is where we are now. It has been legislatively determined the DC Circuit should have 11 members. My friend says we are stacking the court? There are four vacancies. Stacking the court by having eight there instead of seven? That math is not very good. My friend also keeps talking about that the DC Circuit does not have anything to do. The DC Circuit is now more than one-third vacant with four judicial vacancies. Mr. Srinivasan is nominated to the eighth seat on the DC Circuit. Three still remain empty. And, yes, we are. The country is concerned about the decisions coming out of that court. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is considered by some the most important court in the land. But by virtually everybody, it is ``the second most important court in the land'' because of the complex nature of the cases they handle. The court reviews complicated decisions and rulemaking of many Federal agencies and in recent years has handled some of the most important terrorism and enemy combatant and detention cases since the attacks of September 11. These cases are very complex in nature, requiring additional time for consideration.…





