SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY,
CHAIRMAN, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
NEWS CONFERENCE ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS
(Prepared Remarks)
12 Noon Thurs., May 9, 2002

The surge in vacancies created on the Republicans' watch is being cleaned up under Democratic leadership in the Senate. Through a variety of good-faith steps that Senate Democrats have taken, the judicial nominations process today is markedly faster and fairer than it has been.

In just ten months since the Senate changeover we have confirmed 52 judges - at this moment we are in the process of adding four more confirmations, for a total of 56 - and we have set a far better pace than Republicans set for considering President Clinton's nominees.

If the Senate majority were driven by a motivation for payback, as some have charged, I can assure you we would not have confirmed 56 nominees in ten months or be exceeding the Republicans' record with the brisk pace we have been following.

Since July - just ten months ago - we have held more hearings on judges than the Republican majority held in any year of its control of the Senate. The Senate has confirmed more judges, 56, in the last 10 months than were confirmed during all 12 months in each of 2000, 1999, 1997, and 1996.

We are working hard to restore fairness in the confirmation process. We have opened up the blue slip process to public scrutiny. We have ended the era of secret holds that anonymously torpedoed so many of President Clinton's nominees.

So the record speaks for itself. And now the Senate majority is being criticized for not having confirmed 100 percent of the President's nominees, and for not considering nominees in the order that someone else might dictate for the Committee.

Controversial nominations take longer, and the President can help by choosing nominees primarily for their ability instead of for their ideology. The President, at an earlier period, said he wanted to be uniter and not a divider. But he has sent the Senate several nominees who divide Americans and who divide the Senate, and those nominations will take longer.

I agree with the President that we need a fair, impartial and independent judiciary, and it is the Senate's obligation to ensure that those standards are met. Democrats are committed to an independent judiciary, and the Senate should not and will not rubber stamp nominees who would undermine its independence and fairness.

For example, there has been some talk recently about the fact that a hearing has not yet been scheduled for Miguel Estrada, a nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

But I have here a letter from the heads of five of the most important Latino civil rights organizations in the country, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; the National Puerto Rican Coalition; the National Council of La Raza; and, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, asking the committee not to consider Mr. Estrada's nomination at least until after the August recess while these organizations assess his record.

And that's just one of many letters I have here voicing concern about so many of President Bush's controversial nominees.

When so many people and organizations representing so many Americans take the time to write and voice their concern about nominees to these very important lifetime positions, it would be irresponsible of the Committee to rush their consideration.

We will continue to schedule hearings and consider nominees at a rapid pace, but the order of scheduling will also continue to take these factors into account. We will fulfill our Constitutional duty to advise the President on his nominations, and we will not be bullied into rubber stamping them.

The reason we must deliberately consider these nominees is because these nominations matter. With the Supreme Court accepting fewer than 100 cases per term, the Circuit Courts of Appeal are increasingly important in deciding the law on such crucial issues as the environment, disability law, civil rights, voting rights, gender discrimination, and labor.

I am proud to be here today with Senator Kennedy, Senator Durbin, and Senator Schumer, and with several Americans who will share, through their experiences, why these decisions matter in the lives of all Americans.

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