Patrick Leahy: “today we again demonstrate how cooperative the Senate and, in particular, Democratic Senators are being to an…”

“today we again demonstrate how cooperative the Senate and, in particular, Democratic Senators are being to an administration that continues to refuse to work with us to select consensus court judges who could be confirmed relatively quickly by the Senate and fill the remaining Federal court vacancies. In the prior 17 months I chaired the Judiciary Committee, we were able to confirm 100 judges and vastly reduce the judicial vacancies that Republicans had stored up by refusing to allow nominees of President Clinton to be considered. We were able to do so despite the hostility of the White House. The judicial nominees of this President are conservatives, many of them quite to the right of the mainstream. Many of these nominees have been active in conservative political causes or groups. Democrats moved fairly and expeditiously on as many as we could consistent with our obligations to evaluate carefully and thoroughly these nominees to lifetime seats in the federal courts. Last year alone, in an election year, the Democratic-led Senate confirmed 72 judicial nominees, more than in any of the prior six years of Republican control.”