Orrin Hatch: “I rise today in support of Victor Wolski, one of the four nominees for the Court of Federal Claims who have been…”

“I rise today in support of Victor Wolski, one of the four nominees for the Court of Federal Claims who have been awaiting votes on their nominations by the full Senate since March. When Mr. Wolski was first nominated to the Court of Claims in September 2002, he joined three other well-qualified nominees to the same court who had been pending even longer. Charles Lettow had been nominated a month earlier, in August 2002, while Susan Braden and Mary Ellen Coster Williams had been nominated, respectively, in May and June 2001. None of them received a hearing in the 107th Congress. So I am pleased that we have at last reached an agreement for an up- or-down vote on the nominations of Mr. Wolski and the other Court of Claims nominees. But getting to this point was not simple. We had to file a motion to invoke cloture on Mr. Wolski's nomination. Now, I am pleased that our Democratic colleagues agreed to vitiate this motion. But the fact still remains that we were almost forced to resort to a cloture vote simply to secure an up-or-down vote on Mr. Wolski's nomination. Mr. Wolski would have been the first Court of Claims nominee in the history of the Senate to be forced through a cloture vote. This would have been a historic but sad precedent that we came dangerously close to setting.”