AdvanceUSA is encouraged to learn that a good faith deal has been struck in the Senate which would result in three more of the president’s circuit court nominees being confirmed before the Memorial Day recess. This appears to be an important step toward progress on the crucial issue of judicial appointments, and we hope this will result in the Senate achieving the historical precedent of 15-17 circuit court judges being confirmed in a president’s last two years in office.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) statement:
I was encouraged by the Majority Leader’s commitment to confirming three more circuit court nominees by Memorial Day. That will bring the total for the 110th Congress to 10, and it is a good step toward reaching the goal that we outlined at the beginning of this Congress of reaching the historical average.
Because of the Majority Leader’s good faith commitment, I’m confident that we’ll have these three additional nominees confirmed by Memorial Day.
Excerpt from Roll Call article (subscription):
Dangling the popular highway funding bill as his hostage, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) struck a deal Tuesday night with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to dislodge a handful of President Bush’s stalled appellate court nominees.