U.S. SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY

Today we vote to confirm another district court nominee, Gene Pratter to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Ms. Pratter is currently a partner at the firm Duane Morris LLP, where she has worked her entire career. 

A look at the federal judiciary in Pennsylvania demonstrates yet again that President Bush’s nominees have been treated far better than President Clinton’s and shows dramatically how Democrats have worked in a bipartisan way to fill vacancies despite the fact that Republicans blocked more than 60 of President Clinton’s judicial nominees.

With this confirmation, 17 of President Bush’s nominees to the federal courts in Pennsylvania will have been confirmed – a rate not matched in any other state but California. 

With this confirmation, President Bush’s nominees will make up 17 of the 42 active federal circuit and district court judges for Pennsylvania – that is more than one third of the Pennsylvania federal bench.  On the Pennsylvania district courts alone, President Bush’s influence is even stronger as his nominees will hold 14 of the 33 active seats – or more than 42 percent of the current active seats.  With the additional Pennsylvania district court nominees pending on the floor and likely to be confirmed soon, nearly half of the district court seats in Pennsylvania will be held by President Bush’s appointees.  Republican appointees will outnumber Democratic appointees by nearly two to one.

This is in sharp contrast to the way vacancies in Pennsylvania were left unfilled during Republican control of the Senate when President Clinton was in the White House.  Republicans denied votes to nine district and one circuit court nominees of President Clinton in Pennsylvania alone.  Despite the efforts and diligence of the senior Senator from Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, to secure the confirmation of all of the judicial nominees from every part of his home state there were 10 nominees by President Clinton to Pennsylvania vacancies who never got a vote.  Despite records showing them to be well-qualified nominees, many of their nominations sat idle before the Senate for more than a year without being considered.  Such obstruction provided President Bush with a significant opportunity to shape the bench according to his partisan and ideological goals.

Recent news articles in Pennsylvania have highlighted the way that President Bush has been able to reshape the federal bench in Pennsylvania.  For example, The Philadelphia Inquirer, on November 27, 2003, said that the significant number of vacancies on the Pennsylvania courts “present Republicans with an opportunity to shape the judicial makeup of the court for years to come.” 

Democratic support for the confirmation of Gene Pratter is yet another example of our extraordinary cooperation despite an uncompromising White House and a record that shows Republicans refusal to cooperate on President Clinton’s Pennsylvania nominees when they controlled the Senate and a Democrat resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Like so many of President Bush’s nominees, Ms. Pratter is a member of the Federalist Society and has been involved in numerous Republican Party campaigns.  She has no judicial experience although she comes from a well-respected law firm.  Her record of defending businesses raises concerns about her ability to balance business and individual interests.  In her answers to my written questions, however, she assured me that she would be fair to all parties that come before her.  I hope that she will be a person of her word. I hope that she will follow the law.  I hope that she will treat all who appear before her with respect. I hope she will not abuse the power and trust of her position.  Sometimes we have to take a risk to allow a nominee to be confirmed.

I congratulate Ms. Pratter on her confirmation today.

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