Political Quotes

“The editorial notes: A significant reason for the slowdown has been the partisan opposition of Republicans to appeals court and even to trial court nominations, even though almost none of the nominees have backgrounds that raise ideological issues. The Republicans have time and again used the filibuster, the threat of filibuster, holds on nominations and other tactics to confirmations. This is the new practice that Senate Republicans adopted when President Obama was elected. They delay and obstruct judicial nominations for no good reason. There are currently 13 circuit and district court nominees still pending on the Senate Executive Calendar who were reported before the August recess and should all have been confirmed before the recess. Most are consensus nominees. All have the support of their home State Senators, including their home State Republican Senators. The Federal Bar Association wrote a letter earlier this week to Senate leaders that said: [W]e write to urge you to promptly schedule floor votes on pending, noncontroversial United States circuit court nominees and district court nominees who have cleared the Judiciary Committee with strong bipartisan support and who await a final up-or-down vote. The high number of existing judicial vacancies--81, of which 35 constitute judicial emergencies--underscores the need for prompt attention by the Senate in fulfilling its Constitutional responsibilities. They are absolutely right.…”