Grassley Statement on the Nomination of Paula Xinis to be United States District Judge for the District of Maryland

Prepared Senate Floor Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Nomination of Paula Xinis to be United States District Judge for the District of Maryland
May 16, 2016

Today, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Paula Xinis to be a judge for the District of Maryland. 

I’ve been hearing the usual complaints from my friends on the other side of the aisle regarding the pace of judicial nominations.

I’d urge my colleagues to step back and look at the bigger picture.  The relevant number to consider is the number of confirmations during an entire Presidency. At this point in his Presidency, President George W. Bush had 303 judicial nominees confirmed. After tonight’s vote, so far in his Presidency, President Obama will have 325 confirmed. That’s 22 more nominees than Bush had. 

So, as we continue to hear complaints about how many judges are being confirmed, we should put these complaints in context. The simple fact is that President Obama has had quite a few more nominees confirmed than President Bush did. 

Furthermore, I’d note that as Chairman, after this Wednesday, I will have held hearings for the same number of nominees this Congress as the last Chairman of the Committee did up to this point during the last two years of President Bush’s Presidency. 

At this point in 2008, the 110th Congress, the former-chairman held hearings for 43 nominees. And at the end of May this year, we’ll have held hearings for 43 nominees thus far in the 114th Congress.

I yield the floor.

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