Senate Proceeding on Oct 27th, 2009 :: 1:34:35 to 1:40:35
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1:34:33 to 1:34:54( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: quorum call: mr. cardin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask unanimous dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the privileges of the floor be granted to the following member of my staff: you troy ware, during the pendency of this nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: madam president, i know that this time has been

1:34:35 to 1:40:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Benjamin L. Cardin

1:34:55 to 1:35:15( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: reserved for merse to debate the confirmation of a district court dge in west virginia, and i certainly support that confirmation. it's interesting that there are not too many members coming down to talk about this particular judge, even though there was a request that we reserve time on

1:35:16 to 1:35:36( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: the floor in order to debate this nomination. i bring this up because, madam president, there are four nominees ready for confirmation to the court of appeals and six district court judges that are ready for confirmation that have been moved through the committee that for some reason the

1:35:37 to 1:35:57( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: republicans are not allowing us to bring to the floor for confirmation. this is a deliberate effort to try to slow the pace of the confirmation process of federal judges appointed by president obama, and i really think this is wrong, and i think people should understand this.

1:35:58 to 1:36:18( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: in our own circumstance of maryland, we have a judge that has been approved by the committee for the court of appeals, the circuit court of appeals, judge arie davis. a hearing took place in april of this year. the judiciary committee reported out his confirmation by an

1:36:19 to 1:36:40( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: affirmative vote of 16-3. this is clearly a nonpartisan recommendation. judge davis is highly respected by members of the bar in maryland. he has 22 years' experience as a district court judge.

1:36:41 to 1:37:01( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: he has handled all types of cases. he has been recommended as being fair and even-handed and is ideally appellate court. i might add, he will b-- he will add diversity to the court, being the third african-american, when he was

1:37:02 to 1:37:23( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: confirmed -- and he will be confirmed, madam there has been these anonymous holds that are put on a rotating basis on appellate court judges, and in some cases district court judges, as an effort to just slow the process down. when we get a chance to vote on his cfirmation, whether it requires a cloture vote or n

1:37:24 to 1:37:45( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: he's going to be overwhelmingly approved, as he should be, as he should be. he is wl-qualified to serve on the appellate court. i just -- i'm somewhat perplexed perplexed. floor time is valuable. time has been set aside now to talk about confirmation of a west virginia district court

1:37:46 to 1:38:07( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: judge and yet i don't see too many people rushing down to speak on this. why haven't we brought up the other six district court judges that are ready for floor action? why haven't we brought up the four appellate judges so that we have a chance -- if there is a desire to debate it we've got time now to debate t let's debate these issues. if there is a need for a vote,

1:38:08 to 1:38:28( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: let's determine how much time is necessary. then let's get a vote on it. if there is a sincere effort to filibuster that, which i would find regrettable, but if that is the case, if this is truly a filibuster, then let's notify our leadership and let's schedule a cloture vote on these nominations. the bottom line is, to me this is an abuse of the rights of an

1:38:29 to 1:38:50( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: individual member of the united states senate, and certainly it is wrong for confirmation of prepared to take on this public responsibility. we talk -- there's a bill pending here that would create new judges. why don't we just fill the judges that are currently there? why don't we just get these

1:38:51 to 1:39:12( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: appointments to the floor of the senate and vote on these confirmations? i know that strong support for judge davis's confirmation. i hope we can work out the arranges and bring these nominations forward and carry ute our responsibilities and vote up-or-down those that are

1:39:13 to 1:39:33( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: nominated to serve son a federal bench. let me just say one more matter on a basis in the last coness. i know there's been accusations made back and forth. i opposed several of president bush's nominees to in each case i made it clear that i was prepared to vote at

1:39:34 to 1:39:56( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: any time, never delayed the consideration of those appointments, including those to the appellateourt. and they were brought forward and we voted them up or down. i'm asking my republican friends, let's bring these to the floor of the united states senate. let's get a chance to vote on them. les not just schedule time to

1:39:57 to 1:40:17( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: talk about a district judge courcourt judge when in reality there's been very little interest shown in coming forward. i see theistinguished ranking member. he's been very fair to me. i just hope that we'll have

1:40:18 to 1:40:37( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: chance to bring forward other nominations so that we can move forward on one of the principal responsibilities of a united states senator, and that is act on the confirmation of federal judges, to give advice and consent to the president of the united states. and with that, i'd be glad to yield the floor, if the senator