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Schumer versus Reality

The Committee for Justice, which defends and promotes constitutionalist judicial nominees, today rebutted liberal Sen. Charles Schumer's (D-NY) consistently misleading characterizations of the debate on President Bush's judicial nominees.

SCHUMER: "We have approved 204 judges… out of 214."

REALITY: When it comes to the powerful appellate courts – the locus of the Senate's confirmation battles – the story is very different. During President Bush's first term, he nominated 52 qualified men and women to the appeals courts; 35 were confirmed, 18 were not, the lowest appellate confirmation rate – 67 percent – in modern times.

Since the inauguration of the Democratic filibuster strategy in March 2003, the obstruction has been especially marked: of 34 appellate nominees in 2003 and 2004, Democrats filibustered ten – almost one-third – denying them up or down votes, and blocked an additional six through procedure in the Judiciary Committee.

SCHUMER: "We're not looking at this politically even though I saw a poll in The Wall Street Journal that said 41 percent of Republicans support what we are doing."

REALITY: The poll cited frames the question unfavorably to Republicans. A more balanced framing, from a poll by the Judicial Confirmation Network, finds 82 percent of voters agree that "if a nominee for any federal judgeship is well-qualified, he or she deserves an up or down vote on the floor of the Senate." Further, by 78 to 12 percent, voters agree that, "Senators have a constitutional duty to vote on judicial nominations."

SCHUMER: "They [Republicans] did filibuster judges, by the way. Paez, Berzon were filibustered in 1999 and 2000."

REALITY: This statement is Orwellian. By definition, a filibuster occurs when a vote of cloture fails, not when it succeeds and a final vote occurs. In the cases of Paez and Berzon, the majority Republicans -- led by Chairman Orrin Hatch and Majority Leader Trent Lott -- rejected filibusters against judges and granted cloture, allowing both liberal nominees to be confirmed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where they sit today.