Patrick Leahy: “I begin by thanking the democratic leader and assistant leader for going to bat for Judge Edward Prado and working out…”

“I begin by thanking the democratic leader and assistant leader for going to bat for Judge Edward Prado and working out this arrangement with the Republican leadership so that this consensus nomination can be considered without further delay. I appreciate that the majority leader and Senator McConnell have been willing to work with us to allow this nomination to go forward today. I was disappointed to hear on Tuesday that the Republican position was that this matter should be further delayed and I did not understand the logic or motivation behind that position. I cannot recall a time when the Senate or either party leadership insisted on strict adherence to consideration of nominations based on their calendar number. Indeed, during the period 1995 through 2001, quite the opposite was true and Democrats had to work very hard to get the Republican leadership to take up nominations that were stalled on the Senate Executive Calendar for weeks, months and sometimes years. This year we have continued to make progress on filling judicial vacancies not by holding up all nominations reported after that of Mr. Estrada but, on the contrary, by moving to those on which there is agreement and on which we can proceed most efficiently. In fact, all 20 judicial confirmations this year were nominations reported and considered after that of Mr. Estrada and after debate on the Estrada nomination had begun.”