On the recordFebruary 28, 2011
There is both good news and bad news represented by today's debate. The good news is that we begin another week by considering two of President Obama's judicial nominations. With judicial vacancies remaining over 100, nearly half of them judicial emergencies, the Senate's action today on 2 outstanding nominees to fill judicial emergency vacancies in Georgia is much needed. The bad news is that we did not consider these nominations earlier, and that we are not considering any of the other 8 judicial nominees awaiting final Senate consideration and confirmation. Two of those nominees, Sue Myerscough and James Shadid, were each nominated to fill emergency vacancies on the Central District of Illinois. Their confirmations would help relieve the chief judge of that district, who is the only active judge in the entire district. Chief Judge McCuskey wrote to Senator Durbin in November urging the Senate to take action to fill those vacancies, but we did not. Despite the desperate need in that district, neither of these nominations received final Senate votes when they were reported unanimously by the Judiciary Committee last year. Both have now been reported unanimously again, and we should not further delay taking care of this overburdened court and the hard-working Americans who depend on it.
