Pretty Vacant
By Speaking of Colorado wingnuts, Josh Marshall finds Senator Wayne Allard bemoaning “a vacancy crisis that threatens the service of the very justice upon which our great nation depends.” Oh, the humanity!
Now, in fairness, he’s not the only person to complain about Senate machinations preventing the President from putting nominees on the federal courts. For example, Chief Justice Rehnquist has argued that “Vacancies cannot remain at such high levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice that traditionally has been associated with the federal judiciary.”
Strange thing, though–this came from the 1997 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary. Rehnquist also noted: “Some current nominees have been waiting a considerable time for a Senate Judiciary Committee vote or a final floor vote. The Senate confirmed only 17 judges in 1996 and 36 in 1997, well under the 101 judges it confirmed during 1994.” So, following Allard’s logic, I can only conclude that Senate Republicans were responsible for 9/11.