Last week, we asked if Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would step in to prevent his party from needlessly delaying committee approval of four highly qualified district court nominees, all of whom he recommended to the White House. All four vacancies are judicial emergencies, with a caseload so high that even if every vacancy were filled today, the districts would still need several additional judges to ensure timely access to justice for those in Florida to protect their rights.

But the GOP as a matter of course delays committee votes on President Obama’s judicial nominees as part of their overall effort to keep as many seats as possible empty so they can be filled by a Republican president.

At this morning’s Judiciary Committee meeting, all ranking Republican Chuck Grassley had to say about the nominees was to agree with the chairman that all four are supported by their home state senators and completely noncontroversial. Yet he had the vote delayed without explanation, as expected.

If Rubio chose the interests of his constituents and the health of our nation's judicial system over his party and asked Grassley not to do this, there was no indication of it this morning.