President Obama today renominated 42 judicial nominees whose confirmations were blocked by Senate Republicans last year.

“The President has nominated outstanding scholars and jurists,” said Marge Baker of People For the American Way.  “Many of these nominees were approved by the Judiciary Committee in the last Congress and it is clear that they have the judgment and respect for the law to be outstanding judges.  I’m particularly pleased to see that the four nominees tagged as ‘controversial’ by the GOP have been renominated.  Each of these nominees is completely qualified and well within the judicial mainstream.”

In the last Congress, Republican Senators used procedural ploys to obstruct and delay the confirmation of President Obama’s nominees, including those with broad, bipartisan support.  GOP leaders in particular targeted four of President Obama’s nominees, Goodwin Liu, John McConnell, Louis Butler and Edward Chen, all of whom were renominated today.

“Last month, 19 of President Obama’s nominees were blocked by unprecedented obstruction and procedural abuse by Republican Senators for purely political reasons,” said Baker.  “The new Congress is a fresh opportunity for Democrats to stand up to these obstructionist tactics and for the GOP to reform its ways. In the last Congress, even though almost 100 seats on the federal courts sat open, the Republican minority refused to confirm well qualified, common sense nominees.  Hopefully, the bipartisan commission announced today will help ensure that this group of nominees, and others to come, will be confirmed in a timely manner, as Chief Justice Roberts has recently urged.

 

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