Judicial Nominations

Floor Speech

JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS -- (Senate - April 10, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise this morning to join my colleagues because I share their concerns about the immediate need to schedule hearings and then up-or-down votes on 10 highly qualified judicial nominees currently pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

This immediate need for judicial confirmations is especially true in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which serves the residents of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. As a matter of fact, there are currently 19 judicial emergencies across the United States, 9 including circuit court judicial emergencies, and it is imperative that the Senate do its duty to schedule hearings and then have votes on the nominees who have been sent over by the White House.

The Fourth Circuit is currently operating without a third of its judges. The Washington Post observed that:

The Senate should act in good faith to fill vacancies, not as a favor to the President but out of respect for the residents, the businesses, defendants and victims of crime in the region the 4th Circuit covers.

I sincerely hope the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee will work with Republican Members to remedy this unfortunate and untenable situation in the Fourth Circuit. Chairman Leahy and I have a solid record of working together on a bipartisan basis on a variety of issues, ranging from open Government to public corruption, and I am hopeful we can add this to that list.

I am also grateful for his cooperation in dealing with two recent Fifth Circuit nominees. The latest of these Fifth Circuit nominees is Catharina Haynes, a distinguished member of the bar in Dallas, TX, and former State court judge. In February, the chairman held a hearing for Ms. Haynes. That hearing, by the way, was the first--and is still the only--circuit nominee hearing that has occurred since last September. Thus, the problem is painfully obvious. We need more hearings and more markups of nominees and more votes on the floor.

Later today, the Senate will vote on Ms. Haynes's nomination and, I hope, confirm her to the Federal bench. She is an outstanding circuit court nominee, well qualified in terms of her legal ability, her experience, and her judicial temperament. Her nomination has not been contentious or controversial. I am pleased our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have rejected manufactured criticism of her record and the calls from the hard-left interest groups to stop her nomination from moving forward. I can only assume that my Democratic colleagues see these charges for what they are: reckless smears.

I am hopeful we can persuade our Democratic colleagues to reject similarly spurious claims against the many well-qualified nominees who deserve to have hearings and who deserve up-or-down votes in committee and on the Senate floor.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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