GOP blocks judicial nominees
Republicans blocked a push to confirm two judicial nominees Wednesday in the continued Senate battle over the Supreme Court.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) tried to get unanimous consent for the upper chamber to approve Waverly Crenshaw to be a district judge for the Middle District of Tennessee and Paula Xinis to be a district judge for the District of Maryland.
{mosads}Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) objected, suggesting it’s up to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to set the Senate’s agenda.
“If every senator could come down here and cherry-pick different nominations from the calendar and ask consent … that would result in some chaos,” he added.
The Democratic senators, however, argued that fewer judges had been confirmed under the GOP-controlled Senate than during the last two years under former President George W. Bush.
“There’s a matter of fairness here. There’s also a matter of respect for the judicial branch of government and allowing the courts to be able to function, and the district court is where most individuals get their justice,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said.
Mikulski, who is retiring at the end of her current term, added that she is “so frustrated that … President Obama doesn’t get to be President Obama. His job as president is to nominate competent people for an independent branch of government.”
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Senate Republicans should do their job by “confirming these eminently qualified nominees and committing to giving the president’s nominee to the high court a fair hearing.”
The rhetoric is similar to part of the Democratic criticism in a separate fight over the president’s forthcoming Supreme Court pick, where they argue Republicans are trying to undercut Obama’s final year in office.
Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, suggested the blockade over the Supreme Court shouldn’t impact the confirmation of lower-level judges.
“While Republicans refuse to even consider the next Supreme Court nominee, I would think they would at least allow consensus lower court nominees to be confirmed,” he said in a statement. “I hope that Republicans are not listening to the moneyed Washington interest groups over their own constituents.”
Heritage Action has called on Republicans to block any Obama nominee not related to national security.
The Judiciary Committee is expected to battle over the Supreme Court during a meeting Thursday.
Jordan Fabian contributed.
— Updated at 4:15 p.m.
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