USA TODAY: Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy has come down hard on Republicans for delaying confirmation of qualified nominees to the federal bench. Yet the Vermont Democrat has preserved an arcane Senate tradition that critics — including White House officials — say allows Republicans to do just that…
Federal courts have 108 current and upcoming vacancies, including 34 that are considered judicial emergencies, according to the Alliance for Justice. Leahy’s staff says only eight nominees have truly been held up since 2011 by problems with blue slips, and only two of those nominees are currently being blocked by Republican senators in North Carolina and South Carolina…
“In the almost four decades I have served in the Senate, I cannot recall a single judicial nominee confirmed over the objection of his or her home state senators,” Leahy said Monday on the Senate floor… (more)
