COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE
1920 L Street, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, January 23, 2008
CONTACT: Curt Levey, (202) 270-7748,

McConnell: Judges slowdown
"neither fair nor acceptable"

WASHINGTON, DC - Minority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the Senate yesterday about priorities for 2008, including the confirmation of federal judges. He emphasized Senate Democrats’ obstruction of judicial nominees, explaining that “too many judicial posts have been left empty too long” because

“[W]e can’t confirm judges if they don’t get hearings.  And since last summer, Democrats have allowed only one hearing on a circuit court nominee.  Compare that with Senate Republicans in 1999, who held more hearings on President Clinton’s nominees in the fall of that year alone than Democrats allowed this president all last year.  This pattern is neither fair nor acceptable.”

Noting that only six circuit court nominees were confirmed in 2007, McConnell explained that

“[W]e’re not on pace to keep up with historical precedent.  The historical average for circuit court confirmations in the last Congress of a divided government is 17.  President Clinton — who had the second most judicial confirmations in history, despite having to deal with a Republican Senate almost his entire time in office — had 15 circuit court confirmations in his last Congress.” (emphasis added)

Full text of Sen. McConnell’s remarks:

http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=290889&start=1

Curt Levey
Executive Director
The Committee for Justice
1920 L Street, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 270-7748

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For further information please refer to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Back to Top

Back to Committee for Justice Articles