Herb Kohl: “I rise today to discuss judicial nominations and the pace being set by the Judiciary Committee. It is the Senate's…”

“I rise today to discuss judicial nominations and the pace being set by the Judiciary Committee. It is the Senate's responsibility to confirm judges and fill the vacancies in the Federal judiciary. Unfortunately, this constitutional responsibility has become increasingly politicized in the last few years. It seems that the people accused of slowing the process last year are the same ones that are pushing for faster confirmations today. And those who wanted more judges confirmed last Congress are now defending the pace of current confirmations. While we all expected that dynamic once the party in control of the White House and the Senate changed, it is still disappointing. It would be a good idea to agree upon a set of rules that governed the pace of the confirmation process regardless of the party in control of the White House or the Senate. Since that is unlikely, we are now required to defend our rate of confirmations. The only way to do that is to compare the pace this year with that of past years. When we do that, we find that there is little to criticize in the performance of this year's Judiciary Committee. By the end of this session of Congress, we will have confirmed at least 27 district court judges and 6 circuit judges. The Judiciary Committee has held 11 nominations hearings for judges since control of the chamber changed.”