Patrick Leahy: “I said Tuesday of last week that the series of votes the Senate took that day, in which we were unable to consider and…”

“I said Tuesday of last week that the series of votes the Senate took that day, in which we were unable to consider and vote on the nominations of Judge Richard Paez and Marsha Berzon, was unprecedented. I expressed my concern that the Senate not go so far off the tracks of our precedents that we end up creating a problem, not just for this administration, but for any future administration. Today, we at least break out of the impasse of last week, and move forward toward voting on all the judicial nominations before the Senate. Just so we understand where we are, I said last week that Democrats were prepared to vote on all of the judicial nominations pending on the Senate Executive Calendar. Today we provided additional evidence of our resolve to do so. We did that by agreeing to a debate and a confirmation vote on the nomination of Brian Theadore Stewart to the United States District Court for the District of Utah, as well as other nominees pending before the Senate.”