Patricia Millett, DC Circuit Nominee, Clears Senate Judiciary Committee
Source: Huffington Post
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama was handed a win Thursday when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm Patricia Millett to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a court considered second only to the Supreme Court in terms of stature.
The committee vote, 10-8, was along party lines. Republicans said they didn't have anything against Millett -- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said she was probably well-qualified -- but that the court's workload wasn't large enough to justify filling its vacancies. Many Republicans have used that argument for weeks, along with the charge that Obama is court-packing, to justify not filling the court. Eight of 11 seats on the D.C. Circuit are currently filled, four of which are Republican-appointed and four of which are Democrat-appointed.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/01/patricia-millett-dc-circuit-court_n_3689317.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
This actually isn't very good news. The fact that Lindsey Graham voted against her means any filibuster of the DC Circuit nominees in the full Senate is likely to succeed. The Democrats don't have the votes to implement the nuclear option regarding judges, since a number of Senators want to have the option to filubuster any anti-Roe judges a Republican might nominate. Plus, the Republicans are confirming a lot of less important judges lately, which is making their statistics look better as far as rate of confirmation. So I personally doubt any of the 3 DC Circuit nominees will be confirmed.
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