Patrick Leahy: “I know the distinguished leader has been working on trying to find a way to confirm some more judges. I hope we do. I…”

“I know the distinguished leader has been working on trying to find a way to confirm some more judges. I hope we do. I remind the Senate, and the American public, that there is a mistaken belief that in a Presidential election year we stop confirming judges. That is not so. As one who has been here for 25 years, I note that there is an informal procedure called the Thurmond rule, named after our beloved President pro tempore, the Senator from South Carolina, Strom Thurmond. This rule basically says that as we get close to the Presidential election time--July, August, and into the fall--we slow down and nearly stop the confirmation of judges to lifetime appointments to see how the Presidential election comes out, because the next President will be able to nominate judges. But having said that, I point out what happened in the last year of President Bush's term. Democrats controlled the Senate, and we confirmed 66 judges--66 judges nominated by President Bush--more than have been confirmed in any year of President Clinton's term in which there has been a Republican majority, even when he was not facing reelection. In 1996 they confirmed only 17 judges all year. With a Democratic Senate in the last year of President Reagan's term, we did not have this kind of a slowdown and stoppage. Democrats confirmed more than 40 judges. I hope we will look, first and foremost, not at some kind of partisan game but at what is best for the judiciary.”