Mr. President, I appreciate efforts of the Senator from Utah to get order, and that is no more than I could expect for somebody that bears certain similarities to the Senator from Vermont. Earlier, the distinguished Senator from Delaware…

I have noted on the floor of the Senate a number of times, the crisis in our Federal judiciary that Chief Justice Rehnquist has spoken of. The Chief Justice and others have spoken about the nearly 100 vacancies in our Federal judiciary at…

On another issue, Mr. President, since the first Earth Day in 1970, Americans have gathered to celebrate the steps we have taken to clean up our environment and to call attention to what still needs to be done. The early Earth Day events…

the whole purpose of the independent counsel law--to get politics out of the process of investigating politically potent matters--has been severely undercut recently by partisan efforts to bully the Attorney General into appointing an…

6 years ago, thanks to the leadership of Senators Moynihan and Chafee, this Nation made a fundamental change in the way that it allocates public investment in transportation. That change was based on the premises that local people…

we are now in April and we have been in session for 4 months. We have confirmed two Federal judges in 4 months. That is half a Federal judge a month. There are almost 100 vacancies in our Federal judiciary. That means that puts a strain on…

On March 16, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the senior Senator from New York State, turned 70. Senator Moynihan has been referred to, quite properly, as the intellectual of the Senate and called by many, a renaissance man. I mean no disrespect…

I think the process that has culminated in this amendment has shown that however well-intentioned, the drug certification process is poorly conceived. Mexico is clearly not cooperating in the counternarcotics effort as it should. How can…

I am glad to be working with Senator Hatch as original cosponsors of this, the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1997. We worked together on this matter last Congress to craft a bill that was reported by the Judiciary Committee to the Senate…

last night we finally broke through the stall and the Senate confirmed the nomination of Merrick Garland to be a judge on the United States Court of appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. During that extended debate on a nomination…

Senate Joint Resolution 22 does not advance the administration of justice and is not authorized by the independent counsel law. I believe it an inappropriate effort to subvert the independent counsel process. We spent 4 days debating this…

The Federal judiciary should not be held hostage to partisan, petty, or ideological constraints that really reflect only a minority of views. The Federal judiciary is really a blessing in our democracy in the fact that it is so…

If my friend from Maryland will yield on that, I will point out the contrast. In 1992 we had a Republican President and a Democratic Senate; we confirmed 11 appellate court judges and 55 district court judges. Four years later you have a…

In the 104th Congress, I tell my friend from Maryland, there was an unprecedented slowdown in the confirmation of judges to the extent that I think the only year that we could find, certainly in recent memory, where no court of appeals…

this is the first judge confirmed in this Congress. I hope it will be the first of many, many. I remind my colleagues we have close to 100 vacancies in the Federal court. We have begun with one of the most outstanding nominations any…

Between 23 and 25, enough to fill a quarter of the vacancies that are pending. Of course, on Mr. Garland, he came before the committee in 1995 and was approved by the committee the first time in 1995. We are now in 1997. It is not moving…

In 1984, there was a Republican Senate and Republican President, and you see 10 and 33. In 1992, there is a Republican President and Democratic Senate, and the Democratic Senate actually did better for the Republican President than the…

I absolutely agree. It has been my experience in the past that Republicans and Democrats have worked closely together with both Republican and Democratic Presidents to keep the judiciary out of politics, knowing that all Americans would go…

I am concerned when I hear attempts to tie Mr. Garland's nomination to the number of judges in the D.C. circuit. Let us remember that Mr. Garland is there to fill the 11th seat on the D.C. circuit, not the 12th seat. Even Judge Silberman…

I was going to say, there is a certain glacier connotation to the speed of confirming judges.

It is showing, if my friend from Mississippi will yield, remarkable speed. As I said, he was nominated in 1995, first got through the committee unanimously, Republicans and Democrats, in 1995. We are now just before our second vacation of…

I am glad to hear that nobody wants to delay Merrick Garland. I would only point out that his nomination first came before us in 1995, and he was voted out of committee, I believe unanimously, by Republicans and Democrats alike, in 1995…

the full scope of fundraising irregularities on both sides of the aisle and on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue should be the subject of investigation. Today, we have seen reports that a lobbyist for a foreign government was being shaken…

I have listened to the soothing words of my good friend from Mississippi, but they do not bring out the fact the Attorney General has already formed a task force of experienced prosecutors to investigate whether criminal conduct took place…

I put into the Record the editorial from the Washington Post that reaches the same basic conclusion as the resolution of the distinguished Senator from Michigan. I spoke of the fact that the resolution before us, the resolution introduced…