Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Raymond Kethledge and Helene White to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Stephen Murphy to the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. I appreciate the Senate’s work on filling these important seats, which had been declared judicial emergencies.

For the first time in my Administration, the Sixth Circuit will now have a full court to address important issues facing the residents of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Unfortunately, too many other Federal judgeships across America remain vacant. This is unacceptable and inexcusable. Since the beginning of the 110th Congress, the Senate has confirmed only 10 circuit court nominees. In the last two years of the past three Administrations, the Senate has confirmed an average of
17 circuit court judges. I strongly urge the Senate to hold hearings and votes on the 28 pending circuit and district court nominations to ensure that our Nation has a fully functioning judicial system.

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 3:42 PM 0 comments links to this post

"Sen. Reid is working to have the Senate confirm a number of judges as
early as Tuesday afternoon, consistent with our efforts to treat President
Bush’s judicial nominees with more respect than President Clinton’s
nominees received from a Republican Senate," said Reid spokesman Jim
Manley.

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 9:20 AM 0 comments links to this post

"Senator Obama is obviously confused about what the United States Supreme
Court decided and what he is calling for. After enthusiastically embracing the
Supreme Court decision granting habeas in U.S. civilian courts to dangerous
terrorist detainees, he is now running away from the consequences of that
decision and what it would mean if Osama bin Laden were captured. Senator Obama
refuses to clarify whether he believes habeas should be granted to Osama bin
Laden, and instead cites the precedent of the Nuremburg war trials.
Unfortunately, it is clear Senator Obama does not understand what happened at
the Nuremburg trials and what procedures were followed. There was no habeas at
Nuremburg and there should be no habeas for Osama bin Laden. Senator Obama
cannot have it both ways. In one breath he endorses habeas for terrorists like
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and in the next he denies its logical
conclusion of habeas for Osama bin Laden. By citing a historical precedent that
does not include habeas, he sends a signal of confusion and indecision to our
allies and adversaries and the American people.

Let me be clear, under my administration Osama bin Laden will either be killed on the battlefield or executed. Senator Obama's failure to comprehend the implication of the Supreme Court decision he embraced and the historical precedent of Nuremberg raise serious questions about judgment and experience and whether Senator Obama is ready to assume the awesome responsibilities of commander in chief."

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 8:33 PM 0 comments links to this post

It has been 720 days that one of the President’s well-qualified nominees
has been pending and waiting for an up-or-down vote.

My constituents back in the state of Texas tell me they’re pretty disgusted with what they see happening here in the United States Congress…. They don’t see us trying to solve problems. They don’t see us having hearings on judicial nominees, asking those nominees questions about their qualifications and experience and then having a vote on the Senate floor.

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 4:17 PM 0 comments links to this post

RNLA respectfully asks the Senate to give Chief Judge Conrad the up-or-down
vote he unquestionably deserves and afford the citizens of the Fourth Circuit
the just and speedy determination of their rights that they unquestionably
deserve.

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 8:02 AM 0 comments links to this post

Rod Rosenstein is doing a good job as the U.S. attorney in Maryland and
that’s where we need him,” the senators said in a joint statement last Nov. 16.
“He plays a vital role in fighting crime and protecting our communities in
Maryland.

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 9:19 AM 0 comments links to this post

Mr. President, let’s get back to first principles.

The Democratic Majority scheduled the hearing my friend references in way that would violate the Standing Rules of the Senate. Rule 26.5 provides:
“Notwithstanding any other provision of the rules, when the Senate is in
session, no committee of the Senate or any subcommittee thereof may meet,
without special leave, after the conclusion of the first two hours after the
meeting of the Senate commenced and in no case after two o’clock post meridian
unless consent therefore has been obtained from the majority leader and the
minority leader. . . . .”

Typically, the Minority provides consent for committees to violate Rule 26.5. The Minority routinely provides this consent in the interest of comity. But comity also requires the Majority to treat the Minority fairly, which means, at a minimum, that the Majority needs to keep its commitments to the Minority. If commitments in this Body are not kept, then comity breaks down, and if that occurs, the Minority will not
routinely grant consent to those matters that it typically does.

In this case, we have unfulfilled commitments with respect to treating circuit court nominees fairly. It is the middle of June, and the Senate has only confirmed
eight circuit court nominees. This is less than half the number that the
Majority Leader and I agreed to. And it is barely half the number of
circuit court nominees that a Republican Senate confirmed in President Clinton’s
final Congress. More troubling, the Chairman has threatened to soon stop
confirming circuit court nominees altogether. The Republican
Conference does not consider this lack of progress and thinly-veiled threat to
be in good faith. Not surprisingly, it is therefore not inclined to
continue to freely give its consent to matters that are of importance to the
Majority. That’s the way things work around here.

As I’ve said before, the Senate works best when there is a spirit of cooperation.
Absent that spirit, the Minority will be compelled to protect its rights using
all the protections that are afforded it in the Senate Rules.

There is any easy solution to this problem: the Majority needs to start confirming
circuit court nominees, at least those who meet the Chairman’s own
criteria. And it seems to me that before the Committee spends its time
creating new vacancies, it needs to work on filling the vacancies that
exist.

Unfortunately, the Judiciary Committee is moving at a glacial pace to do so. It has only held two circuit court hearings this year, and before that, it hadn’t held a single one since last September. And we have no indication that it’s going to pick up the pace.

There are several outstanding nominees who have been sitting in the Committee who meet the Chairman’s criteria, and until they are treated fairly, the Majority will find
our cooperation increasingly hard to come by.

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 8:57 AM 0 comments links to this post

“I think that it is it opens up a whole new chapter in interpretation of our
constitution, that says that people who are not citizens of this country and are
enemy combatants–some of them still ardently seeking to destroy the United
States of America and all that we stand for and believe in–are now granted
habeus corpus rights,” McCain said, refering to the 5-4 decision that found that
foreign detainees have rights under the constitution to sue in civilian courts.

“We will regret very much in the days and months and years ahead this decision
by the United States Supreme Court.”

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 9:27 AM 0 comments links to this post

McConnell aides say he will make good on his threat to slow things down unless
Reid keeps his word: to confirm 15 federal circuit judges before the end of President Bush's term.

# posted by mzkirkpatrick @ 10:11 AM 0 comments links to this post