Patrick Leahy: “as the 107th Congress concludes, it is time to reflect on the important work we have performed for the American people.…”

“as the 107th Congress concludes, it is time to reflect on the important work we have performed for the American people. In the past few days, the full Senate voted on 20 of the nominees reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee in addition to the 80 judicial nominations previously confirmed. Since the change in majority 16 months ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee has voted on 102 of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees and has held hearings on 103 judicial nominations, some of whom have proven to be quite controversial and divisive. We voted on 102 of them, reported 100 of them favorably and this week the full Senate took the final step of confirming the last of these 100 nominees. This remarkable record compares most favorably to the 38 judicial confirmations averaged per year during the 6 years when the Republican majority was in control of the Senate. Last week, on the Senate floor, the Democratic-led Senate confirmed more judges in just 1 day than the Republican majority allowed to be confirmed in the entire 1996 session. In that year, the Republican majority allowed only 17 district court judges to be confirmed all year and would not confirm any circuit court nominees, not one. In contrast, last Thursday the Senate acted to confirm 17 district court nominations and, in addition, another circuit court nominee. In all, the Senate has confirmed 17 circuit court nominees and 83 district court nominees in just 16 months.”