Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I rise to correct the Record on the claim that we typically confirm judges during a lameduck session. However, we do confirm judges during a lameduck if those judges were reported to the floor before the election. What we typically don't do is report judges out of committee during a lameduck and then also confirm them that same year, and that is what the majority is attempting to do here, and, of course, I object.

We need to follow precedent on these nominees. I will use 12 years as an example to illustrate what really happened.

In 2002, 20 judges were confirmed during the lameduck, but 18 of those judges had been reported out of committee before the midterm election. Only two of those judges were reported during the lameduck, and that was because these two judges waited for more than a year for a hearing.

In 2004, four judges were confirmed during the lameduck session, but none were reported out during that lameduck session.

In 2006, one judge was confirmed, but again, that judge was not reported out of committee during the lameduck session.

In 2008, there were no confirmations in the lameduck session.

In 2010, again, no judges were confirmed, but that year 15 judges were reported out of committee during the lameduck and every one of those 15 judges was returned to the White House.

Finally, in 2012, no judges were confirmed. That year, again, five judges
were reported out of committee during the lameduck, but all five were returned to the White House. That is the raw data.

The data confirms that since 2002, with only two exceptions for special circumstances, no judges have been reported out and confirmed during the lameduck session. The reason is simple. It gives our newly elected Senators the opportunity to have their voices heard, and that is what this is all about. That is the reason the judicial nominees, which are lifetime appointments, are typically returned to the President if they come out of committee during a lameduck session. It gives the new Members an opportunity to have their voices heard.

I am raising this objection today, although I know we are going to proceed, to protect the prerogatives of newly elected Members. Frankly, I am disappointed that the Members are not willing to stand up and protect those rights and prerogatives. I believe I have a pretty good reputation for working across the aisle on a lot of issues, and I expect that somebody would realize that next year these people would get a fair hearing just as they did before they were reported out of committee.

I yield the floor.

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