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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 30, 2003

SCHUMER PROPOSES NEW CONFIRMATION PROCESS FOR JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

Proposal would create streamline the Senate confirmation process and depoliticize it

Schumer asks President to join him in bipartisan reform effort

Asserting that partisan rancor over judges has hit an all-time low, US Senator Charles Schumer today outlined a new proposal to reform the way federal judges are confirmed. Schumer said the proposal is meant to de-politicize the process and ensure that "a true balance" is achieved on the federal bench. In a letter being sent to the President today, Schumer wrote that "As matters currently stand, both sides are clearly considering ideology in evaluating candidates for the bench and nominees are being delayed and deferred because of it.

"On the front end, while most of the candidates you have sent to the Senate have been mainstream conservatives (and have been swiftly confirmed), a growing number of nominees have records that raise both eyebrows and concerns about their commitment to balance, fairness, and moderation. They may be excellent lawyers, but they have spent their careers advancing agendas that harm – most particularly – women, consumers, workers, civil rights, and the environment.

"On the back end, in the face of such extremist nominees, one simply cannot expect the Senate to disregard its constitutional obligation and rubberstamp these extremist nominees. When confronted with nominees’ hostility to basic fairness, we must ask questions, demand answers, and do all we can to stop those who fail to demonstrate the capacity to be even-handed jurists. Thus far, you have declined to take ideology out of the process. That is your right and I respect it, but it means we must continue to stand up against nominees who will bring an activist agenda to the courts.

"Thus, we find ourselves at an impasse when it comes to several nominees. In addition, because we have to spend so much time vetting other nominees for whom red flags are raised, the process moves more slowly than any of us would like."

To break the logjam, Schumer wants to create nominating commissions in every State, the District of Columbia, and each Circuit Court of Appeals. The commissions would each consist of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, chosen by the President and the opposition party’s Senate leader. Each commission will propose one candidate to fill each vacancy.

Barring evidence that any candidate proposed by a Commission is unfit for judicial service, the President will nominate the individual and the Senate will confirm her or him. To ensure each vacancy is filled rapidly but not hastily, the Commission will have a reasonable period of time within which to propose a nominee, the President will have a short time within which to make the nomination, and the Senate will have the same short period within which to confirm him or her.

"This proposal is our best hope for filling the bench with judges who are appointed based on merit, not ideology or party affiliation. It is also our best hope for breaking the vicious cycle that the judicial nomination and confirmation process has been stuck in for years... By giving the President and the Senate equal roles in picking the judge-pickers, both retain some control over the process, but neither gets a stranglehold," Schumer wrote.

"By forcing every selection to be bipartisan, we maximize the prospect of achieving balance and moderation on the bench. Very few extremists on either side will get through and, in the rare instance where one does, he or she likely will be offset by an extremist on the other side."

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