C
heck out Sen. Leahy's statement here (regarding Judge Adalberto Jordan's status before the Senate), which quotes
this post from yesterday:
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On the Nomination Of Judge Adalberto Jordan To The Eleventh Circuit
February 14, 2012
Republican Senators delayed a final vote on the nomination of Judge
Adalberto Jordan of Florida even though the Senate voted 89-5 last night
to end a Republican filibuster that has already prevented a vote for
four months. This is a consensus nominee who Senator Nelson has been
strongly supporting and who Senator Rubio also supports. He should have
been confirmed four months ago. He should have been confirmed last
night after the overwhelming cloture vote. Instead, obstruction
needlessly delayed the Senate acting to fill the emergency judicial
vacancy on the Eleventh Circuit.
Senator Nelson has worked hard for this nomination, working to get
Judge Jordan’s nomination cleared by every Democratic Senators in
October immediately after it was reported unanimously by the Judiciary
Committee. We were ready to vote in October. We were ready to vote in
November. We were ready to vote before the end of the last session of
Congress in December. It is hard to believe that it is now the middle
of February, over four months after Judge Jordan’s nomination was
reported with the support of every Democrat and every Republican on the
Judiciary Committee, and the Senate still has not voted to fill this
judicial emergency vacancy affecting the people of Florida, Georgia and
Alabama. I appreciate why Senator Nelson is frustrated. I understand
why Hispanics for a Fair Judiciary and the Hispanic National Bar
Association are, too.
Let me refer to some of the reporting on this. One post begins:
“So, here’s the absurdity of our judicial confirmation process – the
full Senate voted 89-5 to invoke cloture, meaning that Judge Jordan’s
nomination to the 11th Circuit would finally come to a vote.
But then Senator Nelson said that one Senator is holding up the merits
vote by demanding 30 more hours of ‘debate’ post-cloture. Senators
Leahy and Boxer both then commented how ridiculous such a request was,
but that’s the way it is. It looks like we’ll have [to] wait another 30
hours for Judge Jordan to move up to the 11th. Silliness in our Congress . . . .”
The article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:
“South Florida lawyers praise him. Both of Florida’s U.S. senators
have recommended him. And the Senate Judiciary Committee voted
unanimously to approve his nomination.
But U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan of South Florida has been blocked for four months from rising to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, the latest sign of a polarized and dysfunctional Senate.
A Senate filibuster that has kept Jordan waiting and the appellate
court undermanned fizzled on Monday when the Senate voted 89-5 to move
toward a final confirmation vote.
But Jordan is still waiting because one senator . . . objected to attempts to complete action on Monday . . . .”
I have not heard from any Republican Senators objecting to this Judge
explaining what they find wrong with this highly-qualified Cuban
American. I am at a loss as to why Republican Senators continue to
delay a vote on this outstanding nominee. This nominee is beyond
reproach. This is another nomination battle that has nothing to do with
the nominee and his qualifications. This is another example of
obstruction based on a collateral objective. The people of Florida,
Georgia and Alabama should not be made to suffer a judicial emergency
vacancy when this highly-qualified nominee should be confirmed without
further delay. Nor did anyone come forward to explain the Senate
Republicans’ delay for the last four months. Cloture has been invoked
by the Senate and the filibuster will be ended. There was no good
reason to continue to hold up a vote that has already been delayed for
four months.
When I first became Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 2001, I
followed a time when Senate Republicans, who had been in the majority,
had pocket filibustered more than 60 of President Clinton’s judicial
nominations, blocking them with secret holds in backrooms and
cloakrooms, obstructing more with winks and nods, but with little to no
public explanation or accountability. I worked hard to change that and
to open up the process. I sought to bring daylight to the process by
making the consultation with home state Senators public so that the
Senate Republicans’ abuses during the Clinton years would not be
repeated.
When Senate Democrats opposed some of President Bush’s most
ideological nominees, we did so openly, saying why we opposed them. And
when there were consensus nominees—nominees with the support of both
Democrats and Republicans-- we moved them quickly so they could begin
serving the American people. That is how we reduced vacancies in the
presidential election years of 2004 and 2008 to the lowest levels in
decades. That is how we confirmed 205 of President Bush’s judicial
nominees in his first term.
Now we see the reverse of how we treated President Bush’s nominees.
Senate Republicans do not move quickly to consider consensus nominees,
like the 15 still on the Senate Calendar that were reported unanimously
last year and should have had a Senate vote last year. Instead, as we
are seeing today and have seen all too often, Senate Republicans
obstruct and delay even consensus nominees, leaving us 45 judicial
nominees behind the pace we set for confirming President Bush’s judicial
nominees. That is why vacancies remain so high, at 86, over three
years into President Obama’s first term. Vacancies are nearly double
what they were at this point in President Bush’s third year. That is
why half of all Americans—nearly 160 million—live in circuits or
districts with a judicial vacancy that could have a judge if Senate
Republicans would only consent to vote on judicial nominees that have
been favorably voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee and have been
on the Senate Executive Calendar since last year.
This is an area where we should be working for the American people,
and putting their needs first. This is a nomination that has the strong
and committed support of the senior Senator from Florida, Senator
Nelson, as well as that of Senator Rubio, Florida’s Republican Senator.
Judge Jordan had the unanimous support of every Republican and every
Democrat on the Judiciary Committee when we voted last October, although
one Republican switched his vote last night to support the filibuster
of Judge Jordan’s nomination. This is the nomination of a judge, Judge
Jordan, who was confirmed to the district court by a vote of 93 to one
in 1999, even while Senate Republicans were pocket filibustering more
than 60 of President Clinton’s judicial nominees.
I regret that Republican Senators chose to delay a final vote on
Judge Jordan’s confirmation. He is fine man who, after emigrating from
Havana, Cuba at the age of six went on to graduate summa cum laude
from the University of Miami law school and clerk for Justice Sandra
Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as Federal prosecutor
and Federal judge. The needless delay of Judge Jordan’s confirmation
is an example of the harmful tactics that have all but paralyzed the
Senate confirmation process and are damaging our Federal courts.
It should not take four months and require a cloture motion to
proceed to a nomination such as that of Judge Jordan to fill a judicial
emergency vacancy on the Eleventh Circuit. It should not take more
months and more cloture motions before the Senate finally votes on the
nearly 20 other superbly-qualified judicial nominees who have been
stalled by Senate Republicans for months while vacancies continue to
plague our Federal courts and delay justice for the American people.
The American people need and deserve Federal courts ready to serve them,
not empty benches and long delays.
Well done Senator. Now let's get Judge Jordan confirmed!
