This afternoon, by a vote of 77-20 the Senate confirmed Judge Thomas Vanaskie to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Thomas Vanaskie has been a judge on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania since 1994, and from 1999 to 2006 he served as the district's chief judge. Today, Senator Specter (D-PA) took to the floor to praise Vanaskie as highly qualified, and urged his colleagues to support his confirmation. He was nominated to the Third Circuit by President Obama on August 7, 2009. Even though he was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 16-3 in December, he has waited over four months for final confirmation.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the nomination of judge Denny Chin to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit tomorrow. While this movement is positive, it is only a drop in the bucket compared to the outstanding nominations awaiting final confirmation. Despite the fact that Jane Stranch, who was nominated on the same day as Vanaskie to the Sixth Circuit, has support from both home state Republican Senators, and was voted out of committe with a bipartisan vote of 15-4, she has yet to be scheduled for a vote even though she has waited nearly 260 days for confirmation. Also awaiting confirmation are Circuit Court nominees Alberto Diaz, and James Wynn in addition to 20 district court nominees.
Yesterday, in an effort to alleviate the slow pace of confirmations for both judicial and executive nominees, Senators Whitehouse (D-RI) and McCaskill (D-MO) took to the floor to call out the anonymous holds by the GOP that continue to obstruct the confirmation process. This video, from the Huffington Post speaks for itself:
Showing posts with label senator kyl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label senator kyl. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Sotomayor Hearing Wrap-Up: Day 2
Today was the first day that Judge Sotomayor answered questions from the Senate. The questions, ranging from the relevant to the wildly inane, covered many topics including Judge Sotomayor’s judicial record, speeches, and her background with PRLDEF. The main focus of today’s hearing was the Ricci case, the Judge’s remarks that she hoped a wise Latina would come to a better legal conclusion than a wise old man, and the Maloney 2nd Amendment case.
Much of the day focused on her per curiam opinion in Ricci and the now infamous “wise Latina” comment she made in a few speeches. While most Republican Senators tried to paint Judge Sotomayor as a judge with an agenda, the back-and-forth volleys showed something entirely different. Judge Sotomayor clearly showed that the Second Circuit’s decision in Ricci followed established Supreme Court and Second Circuit precedent, and that the comment in her speeches have been taken out of context. In discussing Ricci, Judge Sotomayor confirmed that the Second Circuit panel had carefully reviewed and adopted a “very thorough 78 page decision from the district court” that thoroughly discussed both Second Circuit and Supreme Court precedent the panel was required to follow. She emphasized that Ricci was “not a quota case,…not an affirmative action case, this was a challenge to a test that everybody agreed had a very wide difference between the pass rate of a variety of different groups.” It was the Supreme Court that announced a completely new standard by which to judge Title VII cases. With respect to her speeches, Judge Sotomayor clarified that each was made to students and that her comments reflected her desire to inspire and encourage them to recognize that “their life experiences would enrich the legal system.”
Senators Kyl and Hatch among others questioned Judge Sotomayor at length about her understanding of the Second Amendment, the foundations for the right to privacy in the Constitution, and her views of stare decisis. In response to each question, Judge Sotomayor was reasonable, authoritative, and extremely forthcoming. In short, she demonstrated precisely the intelligence and temperament that will serve her well as a Justice on the Supreme Court.
Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow as the senators finish their first round of questioning.
Much of the day focused on her per curiam opinion in Ricci and the now infamous “wise Latina” comment she made in a few speeches. While most Republican Senators tried to paint Judge Sotomayor as a judge with an agenda, the back-and-forth volleys showed something entirely different. Judge Sotomayor clearly showed that the Second Circuit’s decision in Ricci followed established Supreme Court and Second Circuit precedent, and that the comment in her speeches have been taken out of context. In discussing Ricci, Judge Sotomayor confirmed that the Second Circuit panel had carefully reviewed and adopted a “very thorough 78 page decision from the district court” that thoroughly discussed both Second Circuit and Supreme Court precedent the panel was required to follow. She emphasized that Ricci was “not a quota case,…not an affirmative action case, this was a challenge to a test that everybody agreed had a very wide difference between the pass rate of a variety of different groups.” It was the Supreme Court that announced a completely new standard by which to judge Title VII cases. With respect to her speeches, Judge Sotomayor clarified that each was made to students and that her comments reflected her desire to inspire and encourage them to recognize that “their life experiences would enrich the legal system.”
Senators Kyl and Hatch among others questioned Judge Sotomayor at length about her understanding of the Second Amendment, the foundations for the right to privacy in the Constitution, and her views of stare decisis. In response to each question, Judge Sotomayor was reasonable, authoritative, and extremely forthcoming. In short, she demonstrated precisely the intelligence and temperament that will serve her well as a Justice on the Supreme Court.
Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow as the senators finish their first round of questioning.
Senator Kyl Singing a Different Tune
Today, Senator Kyl (R-AZ) sharply questioned Judge Sotomayor about how her background may impact her decisions. He took a slightly different tack in his opening statement during the Alito hearing:
"With your intellect and education, you could have become a wealthy attorney, but instead you devoted virtually all of your legal career to the public service. In doing so, you meet, and even exceed, the stellar examples set by Justices Thomas and Souter, each of whom devoted most of their pre-judicial careers to public service. Perhaps this is because, like Justices Ginsburg and Scalia, you had a father who was an immigrant to this Nation. It seems that immigrants often have a special understanding of the incredible opportunities that this Nation affords its citizens."
"With your intellect and education, you could have become a wealthy attorney, but instead you devoted virtually all of your legal career to the public service. In doing so, you meet, and even exceed, the stellar examples set by Justices Thomas and Souter, each of whom devoted most of their pre-judicial careers to public service. Perhaps this is because, like Justices Ginsburg and Scalia, you had a father who was an immigrant to this Nation. It seems that immigrants often have a special understanding of the incredible opportunities that this Nation affords its citizens."
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)