Political Quotes

“Mr. President, more than 2 weeks ago, the Senate voted to end the filibuster on the nomination of Michelle Friedland of California to fill a judicial emergency vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. That vote was the fourth time this year that the Senate had to overcome a Republican filibuster of a highly qualified circuit court nominee. In stark contrast, the Senate confirmed 18 of President Bush's circuit nominees within a week of being reported by the Judiciary Committee. The Ninth Circuit is the busiest circuit court in the country. It has the highest number of appeals filed, the highest pending appeals per panel and the highest pending appeals per active judge. It also takes far longer than any other circuit court to resolve an appeal. The delay in resolving these appeals hurts the American people. After the confirmation last month of John Owens and what I expect will be today's confirmation of Michelle Friedland, the Ninth Circuit will be operating at full strength for the first time in more than 9 years. This is an important milestone, but we should not stop there. There are five additional circuit court nominees awaiting Senate confirmation. I hope that Senators who care about Americans having access to the courts will allow the Senate to confirm these nominees without further delay.…”