Orrin Hatch: “last week an event occurred that was a long time coming. I am not talking about the grand opening of the Newseum a few…”

“last week an event occurred that was a long time coming. I am not talking about the grand opening of the Newseum a few blocks from here down Pennsylvania Avenue. No, last week the Senate finally voted on and confirmed a few nominees to the Federal bench. This event is of historical proportions because not since 1848 had the Senate taken this long to confirm a Federal judge in a Presidential election year. You heard me right. The first judicial confirmation of 2004 was on January 28, the first one in 2000 was on February 10, and the first one in 1996 was on January 2. One of my Democratic colleagues was here on the floor last week trying to shuffle the historical chairs on the judicial confirmation deck by talking about the 1996 session rather than 1996 itself because the second session of the 104th Congress began on January 3. By dicing and splicing the calendar that way, he tried to avoid counting all of the judges we confirmed that year. I am not going to play that game. I am comparing apples with apples, years with years. In 33 of the 40 Presidential election years since 1848, the Senate confirmed the first Federal judge by the end of February. Not mid-April, not mid-March, but the end of February. This is the latest start to judicial confirmations in a presidential election year in 160 years.”