Political Quotes

“The Senate must do better. We must work together to ensure that the Federal judiciary has the judges it needs to provide justice to Americans in courts throughout the country. Judicial vacancies throughout the country hinder the Federal judiciary's ability to fulfill its constitutional role. They create a backlog of cases that prevents people from having their day in court in a timely fashion. This is unacceptable. That is why Chief Justice Roberts, Attorney General Holder, and the President of the United States have spoken out and urged the Senate to act. Just before the Senate adjourned for its two-week Easter recess, the White House Counsel spoke to the American Bar Association about the need for a sense of greater urgency in filling these judicial vacancies. I hope that we will follow this advice and make real progress to ensure that the Federal courts are able to function for all Americans. We have a long way to go to do as well as we did during President Bush's first term, when we confirmed 205 of his judicial nominations, bringing the vacancy rate down from 10 percent to 4 percent. We confirmed 100 othose judicial nominations during the 17 months I was Chairman during President Bush's first 2 years in office. So far, well into President Obama's third year in office, the Senate has only been allowed to consider 79 of President Obama's Federal circuit and district court nominees.…”