Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),

Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,

On Judicial And Executive Nominations

Executive Business Meeting 

November 1, 2007

 

Today, our agenda includes the nomination of John Daniel Tinder for a lifetime appointment to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  I acknowledge the support of Senators Lugar and Bayh, and want to thank Senator Durbin for chairing the hearing on this nomination.
 

His will be the sixth circuit court nomination the Committee is considering this year.  If he is favorably reported and then confirmed by the Senate, we will have matched the total number of circuit court nominees confirmed for 2001.  We will also have exceeded the totals achieved in all of 2004 when a Republican-led Senate was considering this President’s circuit nominees; all of 1989; all of 1983, when a Republican-led Senate was considering President Reagan’s nominees; all of 1993 when a Democratic-led Senate was considering President Clinton’s nominees; and, of course, the entire 1996 session during which a Republican-led Senate did not confirm a single one of President Clinton’s circuit nominees.

 

I have also included on today’s agenda the nomination of Julie L. Myers to be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security.  This Committee held a hearing on her nomination last year.  No Senator requested another hearing and all Senators have been given the opportunity to follow up with further written questions and meetings.  This is a nomination on which we share jurisdiction with the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

 

Our agenda also includes the nomination of Michael J. Sullivan to be Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  The Committee held a hearing on his nomination last month, and I thank Senator Kennedy for chairing that hearing.

 

Just last week, Senator Whitehouse chaired a confirmation hearing for another senior executive branch nominee, the nomination of Ronald Jay Tenpas to be Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department.  This is a very important part of the Justice Department and I thank Senator Whitehouse for his leadership in connection with environmental protection. 

 

With the important work that lies ahead for this Committee, I have asked Senators who are members of the Judiciary Committee to attend a special markup next Tuesday to consider the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General of the United States.  Of course, we still await nominations for the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, a number of Assistant Attorney General positions and, importantly, 21 U.S. Attorney positions around the country — over one-fifth of all U.S. Attorney positions. 

 

The same is true of many judicial vacancies.  Twenty-five of them – more than half – have no nominee.  Of the 15 vacancies deemed by the Administrative Office to be judicial emergencies, the President has yet to send us nominees for eight of them, more than half.  Of the 14 circuit court vacancies, six – nearly half – are without a nominee.  If the President were to work with the Senators from Michigan, Rhode Island, Maryland, California, New Jersey, and Virginia, we could make even more progress. 

 

We have helped cut the circuit vacancies from a high water mark of 32 in the early days of this Administration, to as low as 13 this year.  Contrast that with the Republican-led Senate’s lack of action on President Clinton’s moderate and qualified nominees that resulted in increasing circuit vacancies during the Clinton years, from 17 when he was inaugurated to 26 when he left office.  During those years, the Republican-led Senate engaged in strenuous and successful efforts under the radar to keep circuit judgeships vacant in anticipation of a Republican President.  More than 60 percent of current circuit court judges were appointed by Republican Presidents, with the current President having appointed more than 30 percent of the active circuit judges already. 

 

I would rather see us work together in the selection of nominees so that we can confirm judges rather than fight about them. 

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