Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Washington for her remarks. As for me, this is the third time this month that I have come to the Senate floor to speak about the Supreme Court nomination currently pending before the judiciary and the judicial vacancy crisis as a whole in our country.
It has been 7 months since Chief Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court, and it is still pending. It has been about 19 months since Judge Julien Neals was nominated to the District Court of New Jersey, and it is still on hold.

As was the case in the last two times I have come to the floor to speak, our country is not only operating with an incomplete Supreme Court, but it is also operating with a judicial vacancy crisis across the Nation in multiple Federal courts.

The Supreme Court's term is about to begin next week, and without action to schedule a vote and confirm Judge Garland's nomination, the Supreme Court will still be operating without a ninth Justice, just as it has been for the past 7 months. I do not believe that was the intention of our Framers. I do believe that because this body is not doing anything about this nomination, it is having a material effect on another branch of government, which I believe is a subversion of the framing of our Constitution and the functioning of our government.

By failing to hold the vote on Judge Garland's nomination, we are continuing to cripple one of our coequal branches of government. It is unacceptable that we would consider taking a 7-week break from the business of the Senate before ensuring that one of our coequal branches of government is operating as it was intended by our Framers.

There is no credible reason for the refusal of a vote for Judge Garland's nomination, and this kind of wait for a Supreme Court Justice's confirmation is unprecedented in our history.

Republicans and Democrats have clearly stated over the years how well qualified Judge Garland is as a nominee. In fact, we have seen multiple people remark that he is not just well qualified, but in the grand scheme of the partisan divides in our country, he is relatively moderate in his judicial history. Unfortunately, though, with that, we are still failing to see an up-or-down vote in this body.

There is no reason this distinguished body should not confirm Chief Judge Garland so that we have a full complement of Justices on the Supreme Court when the next term convenes. We also know that across the country, as I said earlier, Federal judges are overworked and, of course, understaffed because of the vacancy crisis.

The last time I came to the floor on this issue, I noted that we faced 90 judicial vacancies in our courts across the country, 35 of which have been deemed judicial emergencies. A judicial emergency is not some subjective conclusion; it is an objective conclusion by judicial experts and judicial staff that has nothing to do with the partisan politics of our land. Yet we are seeing no action being taken.

There are 30 nominations currently pending on the Senate Executive Calendar, and all but two were voted out of committee by unanimous vote. That includes 20 district court nominees. Both Republicans and Democrats in this body gave a unanimous vote in the Judiciary Committee. The nominations pending on the Executive Calendar are from States all across the country, from east to west. These places include New Jersey, New York, California, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Utah, Massachusetts, Maryland, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Indiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Idaho. Today, when we are perhaps days from adjourning for another long recess--7 weeks--I rise, as I said, for the third time not only to ask Republicans with great respect and reverence for all nominations going on in the Senate, but also to ask that we push this bipartisan package of well-qualified nominees that includes two people who are next on the list, Ed Stanton and Julien Neals, the two longest waiting judicial nominees from Tennessee and New Jersey, as well as nominees from New York, California, Rhode Island, and two nominees from Pennsylvania, again supported in a bipartisan fashion in the Judiciary Committee. The nominees from New Jersey and Tennessee are the two longest waiting nominees currently before the Senate, and as such, deserve to be the next two scheduled nominees up for a vote. I have rejected or stood up in opposition to any efforts to skip those two nominees.
Mr. Stanton is the nominee for the Western District of Tennessee. He is highly qualified, and his experience will suit him well as a judge in the Federal court. Mr. Stanton is a highly regarded member of the Memphis community and someone recommended to the President by my colleague Senator Lamar Alexander.

Judge Neals is the nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, possessing undeniably strong qualifications. He possesses significant legal experience, a distinguished judicial career, and an unwavering commitment to justice. His skill, legal aptitude, and unique thoughtful perspective are needed on the Federal bench now more than ever. I know Julien Neals personally. I worked by his side for close to a decade when I was a mayor--7 years to be exact--and I have seen the thoughtfulness of this individual. He is one of the more impressive people I have met in my professional journey.

There is no reason why Judge Neals or Edward Stanton, the two longest waiting nominees, have had to wait so long to be confirmed. So I hopefully and simply ask that the Senate promptly vote on the next two nominees in line, making sure our judicial system is functioning at its highest capacity. This isn't a Republican or Democratic issue. It is an American issue.

I have been honored to serve people in New Jersey in the Senate for nearly 3 years. During my time in this body, I have been surprised, inspired, and challenged by colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but I have come to a point of hope and hopefulness that when it comes to real issues, such as the functioning of another branch of government, we can come together, and we have the capacity to do the right thing.

I know this body is better than a tit-for-tat process, where we measure how many nominees President Bush got versus President Obama.

This was not the intention of the Constitution, not the intention of our Framers, and it is not something that has been the tradition of our country.

I know the good the Senate can do for Americans across the country.

Part of our obligation is to ensure a functioning judicial system that can deliver justice for America. This Senate is failing to uphold its duty now and has plunged our Nation into a level of judicial crisis that is unacceptable. We can and we must do better.

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