Russ Feingold: “I will vote no on cloture on the nomination of Charles Pickering to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the…”

“I will vote no on cloture on the nomination of Charles Pickering to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. We had a fair process in the last Congress on this nominee--two hearings, a lengthy period of deliberation and debate, and a fair vote. The nomination was defeated. The Judiciary Committee's consideration of this nomination was thorough and fair. Obviously, some did not like the result, but I do not think they can in good faith find fault with the process. It is my view that a process that gives a nominee a hearing, and then a vote in the Judiciary Committee is not an unfair process, or an ``institutional breakdown,'' as some critics of our work in the committee last year called it. It is the way the Judiciary Committee is supposed to work. During the 6 years prior to last Congress, the Judiciary Committee did not work this way. Literally dozens of nominees never got a hearing, as Charles Pickering did, and never got a vote, as Charles Pickering did. Those nominees were mistreated by the committee; Charles Pickering was not. What happened in the Judiciary Committee last year provides no justification whatsoever for the President's unprecedented action of renominating someone who has been considered by the committee and rejected. Judges on our Federal courts of appeals have an enormous influence on the law.”