Grassley Floor Statement on Nancy L. Moritz to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the 10th Circuit

Prepared Floor Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
Nominations of Nancy L. Moritz to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the 10th Circuit
 

Mr. President,

Tonight we will vote on the nomination of Justice Moritz, a nominee for the Tenth Circuit. During her legal career, Justice Moritz handled a wide variety of cases both in the private sector and while serving as an assistant United States Attorney for the District of Kansas for over 9 years. She has also served on the Kansas City Court of Appeals and is currently a Justice on the Kansas Supreme Court.

Justice Moritz has significant appellate experience and I expect she will be confirmed tonight.  

Before we vote on Justice Moritz, though, I wanted to update my colleagues on where the Senate stands in regard to judicial confirmations.  After tonight’s vote we will have confirmed 243 of President Obama’s district and circuit court nominees.

To put that in perspective, at this point in President Bush’s presidency, the Senate had confirmed only 235 district and circuit nominees.

Moreover, during President Obama’s second term and including tonight’s nominee, we have now confirmed 72 of President Obama’s district and circuit court nominees.  By comparison, at this point in President Bush’s second term, the Senate had confirmed only 32 district and circuit court nominees.

Despite this record, it seems to me that no matter how many judges we confirm, the other side, along with some confused commentators outside the Senate, can’t help but complain about our progress. Last week, one member from the Judiciary Committee accused Republicans of obstructing and slowing the nominations process “throughout this President’s entire tenure.”
But as I just pointed out, the Senate has confirmed more of President Obama’s judges than we had at this point during President Bush’s term.

So, these complaints just do not ring true. Even the Washington Post, who was never a friend to George W. Bush, now recognizes how well President Obama is doing on judges.  A recent article entitled “Obama overtakes George W. Bush on judges confirmed” noted that “the Senate has confirmed more Obama nominees to the federal bench than were confirmed at this point in Bush’s second term.”

The Washington Post also conceded that President Obama’s confirmation rate essentially matches that of President Bush’s and President Clinton’s.

I have also heard one of my colleagues complain about this President’s vacancy rate. But the reason the vacancy rate is marginally higher than during President Bush’s term is because President Obama has simply had more vacancies arise during his presidency. There have been more judges retiring now than during the last administration which creates more vacancies.

The bottom line is that we are confirming judges at the same rate. It takes time to process and review each nominee that comes before us. That is simply the way the Senate works in its role to “advise and consent” on judicial nominees.

There is simply no basis to say that Republicans are not giving this President fair treatment. In fact, just last week the Senate confirmed nine judges.

That is the most judges confirmed in one week this entire Congress. In fact, we haven’t confirmed nine judges in one week since December 2010, when we needed to vote on a Sunday to get nine judges confirmed during one week.

So, I just wanted to remind my colleagues of the excellent work the Senate is doing on confirmations and set the record straight. And I congratulate tonight’s nominee on her anticipated confirmation. I yield the floor.