Political Quotes

“Madam President, I wish to return to the issue of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, because even though we had an earlier cloture vote where the Senate decided to continue debate and not close off debate on this issue, I anticipate the majority leader will bring to the Senate floor the other two nominees which have now cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee for the three seats President Obama has said he wants to fill and is asking for the advice and consent of the Senate. I wanted to make sure we all understand exactly what this debate is about. At this very moment, there are plenty of U.S. appellate courts that urgently need judges to handle their existing caseload. As my friend, the distinguished Presiding Officer, knows as a former attorney general, there are a lot of district courts around the country, Federal district courts, that could use additional personnel because they are what are called judicial emergencies because they have such heavy caseloads. They need more help. So why in the world would we want to add more judges to a court that does not have enough work for them to do? That is exactly what this debate is all about. It is not about the specific nominees. It is not an ideological battle that we are all familiar with so much as it is one of practical economics. Between 2005 and 2013, the total number of written decisions per active judge on the DC Circuit declined by 27 percent.…”