Resubmitting Judicial Nominees

On the day President Bush urged the Senate to give his judicial nominees an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor, President Bush resubmitted a list of 20 judicial nominees to the Senate - including seven nominees who were filibustered in the last session of Congress.

I want you to know this is an important time in the judicial confirmation process.  President Bush continues to nominate well-qualified candidates for vacancies on the federal bench.  And the President has repeatedly urged the Senate to fulfill its constitutional obligation - to provide advice and consent and to give these nominees an up-or-down vote.

Among those names resubmitted to the Senate:  Judge William Pryor, former Attorney General of Alabama, who has spent the last year on the bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  President Bush named Pryor as a recess appointment to the federal appeals court.  As you know, Senator Ted Kennedy is trying to remove Judge Pryor from the bench.  Last fall, a federal appeals court upheld the appointment.  Sen. Kennedy has asked the Supreme Court to take the case.  It has been conferenced numerous times and still no word on what the high court will do with the case.  

Now as these nominees once again move through the process, we will be working closely with Senate leadership to ensure that they receive a swift hearing and a vote by the full Senate.