Political Quotes

“we have a problem in our court system. We currently have 83 judicial vacancies, and 29 of these are considered judicial emergency vacancies because they have been vacant so long or because the case backlog is so severe. There is a simple reason we have this problem: Senate Republicans refuse to do their job and confirm judicial nominees. This is the case from the Supreme Court, with the outrageous and unprecedented obstruction of Judge Merrick Garland, to the Federal Courts of Appeals, where it took more than a year for Judge Felipe Restrepo to be confirmed to the Third Circuit, down to the District Courts, where the number of vacancies has skyrocketed under Republican leadership. We haven't always had this problem, and there is no good reason we have it now. Eight years ago this week, when Democrats controlled the Senate and President Bush was in the White House, there were a total of 39 vacancies in the court system. In the last 2 years of the Bush Presidency, the Senate confirmed 68 judges, compared to just 22 judges confirmed to date in President Obama's final 2 years. Pennsylvania currently has five pending judicial nominees. One, Rebecca Haywood, is an excellent nominee for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. She is extremely well-qualified and deserves timely consideration and a vote. The other four are district court nominees, all distinguished judges nominated with bipartisan support from my colleague Senator Toomey.…”