The Senate today defeated a filibuster of the nomination of Andrew Hurwitz of Arizona to sit on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a 60-31 cloture vote. Once he is confirmed, Hurwitz, currently a justice on the Arizona Supreme Court, will fill one of 90 vacancies and 31 officially-designated judicial emergencies nationwide. He will serve on the Ninth Circuit, the busiest federal appeals court in the country. Despite the support of both of his Republican home-state senators and bipartisan approval in the Judiciary Committee, Republicans stalled Hurwitz’s nomination on the Senate floor for over three months.

“Andrew Hurwitz, whose experience includes nine years on the Arizona Supreme Court, is clearly qualified to sit on the Ninth Circuit,” said Marge Baker of People For the American Way. “President Obama nominated a highly qualified jurist who garnered bipartisan support. Senators McCain and Kyl recognized his qualifications and supported his nomination to the Ninth Circuit, and he was approved by the Judiciary Committee with unanimous Democratic and significant Republican support. Yet for the Republican leadership who have blocked ongoing Democratic efforts to schedule a vote, that wasn’t enough to earn Justice Hurwitz a timely vote from the Senate, even for a vacancy that’s so urgent it’s been labeled a ‘judicial emergency.’ Filibusters used to be reserved for only the most controversial of nominees. Today, Senate Republicans seem eager to block the workings of Congress and the courts at every opportunity.”

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