I am glad to see the Committee moving today on some of the many judicial nominees pending before us. The Committee has reported only 19 nominees and held just six hearings all year on judicial nominations. There is growing frustration around the country with this partisan stall. So far this year there have been 100 judicial vacancies and the Senate has acted to fill only 26 of them.

Governor Bush of Texas recently noted:

The Constitution empowers the president to nominate officers of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate. That is clear-cut, straightforward language. It does not empower anyone to turn the process into a protracted ordeal of unreasonable delay and unrelenting investigation. Yet somewhere along the way, that is what Senate confirmations became – lengthy, partisan, and unpleasant. That has done enough harm, injured too many good people, and it must not happen again.

He proposed that presidential nominations be acted upon by the Senate within 60 days. Of the 39 judicial nominations currently pending, 25 have already been pending for more than 60 days without Senate action. Already this Congress 79 nominees, including 54 eventually confirmed, have had to wait longer than 60 days for Senate action. I urge the Senate to do better.

I am very glad to see that the Committee is proceeding on four District Court nominees: Paul C. Huck, nominated to the District Court of Southern District of Florida; Judge John W. Darrah, nominated to the District Court in the Northern District of Illinois; Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, nominated to the District Court of the Northern District of Illinois; and George Z. Singal, nominated to the District Court in the District of Maine.

I am disappointed that Judge Johnnie Rawlinson, nominated by the President to a vacancy on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, is not included on today’s agenda even though her hearing was held on the same day as these District Court nominees. Judge Rawlinson currently serves as a distinguished District Court Judge in Nevada. I hope that we will move quickly on her nomination and on those of Barry Goode and James Duffy to fill some of the longstanding vacancies that have plagued the Ninth Circuit. Judge Rawlinson and these other nominees all enjoy the strong support of their home state Senators.

I am sorry more nominees were not included today, particularly Court of Appeals nominees. This is another abbreviated list of nominees that contains no Court of Appeals nominees. I hope the Committee will see it fit to proceed at our next Executive Session on the nominations of Judge Rawlinson to the Ninth Circuit, Bonnie Campbell to the Eighth Circuit and Allen Snyder to the District of Columbia Circuit. In light of the large number vacancies at the appellate level, at a rate of over 11 percent (20 out of 179), and the number of highly qualified nominees to circuit courts around the country pending before this Committee, it is most regrettable that we are not considering these nominations today.

I deeply regret that the Senate adjourned last November and left the Fifth Circuit to deal with the crisis in the federal administration of justice in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi without the resources that it desperately needs. Unfortunately because the Senate did not act on nominees, the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declared a circuit emergency more than seven months ago. I recall when the Second Circuit had such an emergency two years ago. Along with the other Senators representing States from the Circuit, I worked hard to fill the five vacancies then plaguing my circuit. The situation in the Fifth Circuit is not one that we should tolerate; it is a situation that I wished we had confronted by expediting consideration of the nominations of Alston Johnson and Enrique Moreno last year. I still hope that the Senate will consider both of them this year.

With 20 vacancies on the Federal appellate courts across the country, and nearly half of the total judicial emergency vacancies in the Federal courts system in our appellate courts, our Courts of Appeals are being denied the resources that they need, and their ability to administer justice for the American people is being hurt. In addition to the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, there continue to be multiple vacancies on the Fourth, Sixth, Tenth and District of Columbia Circuits.

I continue to urge the Senate to meet our responsibilities to all nominees, including women and minorities, and look forward to action on the nominations of Judge James Wynn, Jr. to the Fourth Circuit, Enrique Moreno to the Fifth Circuit, and Kathleen McCree Lewis to the Sixth Circuit. That Judge Rawlinson and Bonnie Campbell are being needlessly delayed is most regrettable. Working together the Senate can join with the President to confirm well-qualified, diverse and fair-minded judges to fulfill the needs of the federal courts around the country.

Having begun so slowly in the first half of this year, we have much more to do before the Senate takes its final action on judicial nominees this year. We should be considering 20 to 30 more judges this year. Having begun so slowly, we cannot afford to follow the ‘Thurmond rule” and stop acting on these nominees at the end of the summer in anticipation of the presidential election. We must use all the time until adjournment to remedy the vacancies that have been perpetuated on the courts to the detriment of the American people and the administration of justice. I urge all Senators to make the federal administration of justice a top priority for the Senate for the rest of this year.

One of our most important constitutional responsibilities as United States Senators is to provide advice and consent on the scores of judicial nominations sent to us to fill the vacancies on the federal courts around the country. I look forward to prompt and favorable action by the full Senate on the nominees included on today’s agenda and look forward to the next hearing, which I hope will be scheduled soon after the Fourth of July Recess.