Orrin Hatch: “I rise this evening to say a few words in response to President Clinton's radio address over the weekend about the pace…”

“I rise this evening to say a few words in response to President Clinton's radio address over the weekend about the pace of the Senate's consideration of judicial nominees. In that address, the President chided Members of this body for what he described as ``a vacancy crisis'' in our Federal courts ostensibly resulting from politically motivated scrutiny of his nominees. I will respond for a moment to the myths and distortions that the Clinton administration has engaged in; specifically the myth that there is a vacancy crisis in the Federal judiciary and the myth that there is a Republican slowdown of judicial confirmations. There is no vacancy crisis. So far this year, the Senate has confirmed 18 of President Clinton's judges. This brings the total number of Clinton nominees on the Federal bench to 222--that is nearly 30 percent of the active Federal judiciary. There are more sitting Federal judges today than there were through virtually all of the Reagan and Bush administrations.”