Senate

Senate confirms second Texas judge

by Jordain Carney - 04/20/15 6:10 PM ET

Senators on Monday approved George Hanks, Jr.’s nomination to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas.

Senators voted 91-0 to confirm Hanks, who was voted out of the Judiciary Committee in February.

{mosads}Democrats used Monday’s vote to highlight that Loretta Lynch’s attorney general nomination has been pending for more than 160 days.

“Today we’re going to be voting on the confirmation of a district court judge in Texas,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said ahead of the vote. “I think it’s good that the Southern District of Texas will have a federal court judge, but the entire country needs a permanent attorney general.”

Stabenow added that “it makes no sense” to hold up Lynch’s nomination because of a fight over a human trafficking bill when the Senate has voted on other nominations.

But Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said that the Senate is handling President Obama’s judicial nominees at approximately the same pace it did President George W. Bush’s.

“Despite some of the complaints we’re hearing from my colleagues on the other side, we’re moving judicial nominees at about the same pace as we did at this point in President Bush’s presidency,” he said, adding that he believes the Judiciary Committee is treating Obama’s nominees “extremely fairly.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has linked Lynch’s nomination to a bill to curb human trafficking that has been stalled by an abortion fight.

With senators suggesting they were optimistic that a deal could be reached, McConnell said late last week that Lynch’s nomination could come up for a vote this week.

Five Republicans have said they will support Lynch, giving her the 51 votes needed to squeak through a Senate confirmation vote.

Tags Chuck Grassley Debbie Stabenow Mitch McConnell