Patrick Leahy: “today the Senate confirmed four lifetime appointments to U.S. district courts, Noel Hillman and Peter Sheridan, who have…”

“today the Senate confirmed four lifetime appointments to U.S. district courts, Noel Hillman and Peter Sheridan, who have been nominated to seats on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and Thomas Ludington and Sean Cox, who have been nominated to seats on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. They are all nominees who have the support of Democratic home State Senators. I am glad the Republican leadership has taken notice of the fact that, as I discussed earlier this week, these nominees have been ready for action for some time, since being reported unanimously last month. I also look forward to working with the Republican leadership to schedule debate and consideration of Sandra Segal Ikuta, who has been nominated to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Andrew Guilford to be a district judge for the Central District of California who also have the support of Democratic home State Senators and could also be easily confirmed. When they are considered, and I hope the Republican leadership will agree to do that next week and not delay, we will have confirmed 250 of President Bush's nominees to lifetime appointments on the Federal courts.…”