Senate confirms two judges

Senators unanimously confirmed two judges Thursday, doubling the number of judicial nominees confirmed by the Senate this year.

Senators confirmed Jill Parrish to be a district judge for the District of Utah and Jose Rolando Olvera Jr. to be a district judge for the Southern District of Texas.

{mosads}Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has made a point of criticizing Republican leadership on the pace of nominees. Before Thursday’s votes, the Senate had confirmed two judicial nominations.

“We know there are judicial emergencies and vacancies throughout the country. But we’ve only considered two judges in this entire Congress,” Reid said Monday. “If they would make good on their public statements and confirm these qualified judicial nominations before the Memorial Day holiday that would be great, but they’re not going to.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), meanwhile, praised Thursday’s votes, saying he was “glad to see some judges finally moving.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) called Parrish’s confirmation “a good day for Utah, and a good day for the Federal Judiciary.”

The Senate also confirmed by voice vote Patricia Cahill to the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Mark Scarano to be the federal chairperson of the Northern Border Regional Commission.