Political Quotes

“Madam President, the Senate has finally taken action on the nomination of Judge William Conley to be a U.S. district court judge in the Western District of Wisconsin. Judge Conley was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee without objection last year, on December 10. That is almost 3 months ago. He has waited for this day for some time. I had hoped that Mr. Conley's confirmation process would resemble those of Judge Christina Reiss of Vermont and Judge Abdul Kallon of Alabama. Those nominees received relatively prompt consideration by the Senate, and they should serve as a model for Senate action. Sadly, they are the exception rather than the rule. They show what the Senate could do, but does not. Time and again, noncontroversial nominees are delayed. The Senate is far behind where we should be in helping to fill judicial vacancies. Vacancies have skyrocketed to more than 100 and more have been announced. We need to do better. The American people deserve better. As with so many other nominations before the Senate, Judge Conley has waited an extraordinary amount of time to be confirmed. Instead of time agreements and the will of the majority, the Senate is faced with delays by Senate Republicans. Earlier this week we had to overcome Republican objection and a filibuster to obtain a vote on the nomination of Judge Barbara Keenan. She, too, was confirmed unanimously, 99 to zero. Yet Republicans would not agree to schedule a vote on her nomination.…”