Republicans Reject Effort To Vote On Judicial Nominees, So Harry Reid Moves Forward Anyway
WASHINGTON -- It appears Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has had it with Republicans refusing to let judicial nominees get votes. So he moved forward without them on Wednesday night.
Reid filed a so-called cloture motion that sets up votes on four federal district court nominees who have been waiting all year for action, but were stymied by Republican delays. The nominees include Jeffrey Meyer for the District of Connecticut, James Moody Jr. for the Eastern District of Arkansas, James Donato for the Northern District of California, and Beth Freeman for the Northern District of California.
The move marks the first time this year that Reid has taken it into his own hands to move on stalled judicial nominees. For weeks, he and other Democrats have tried to work out "unanimous consent" agreements to allow certain nominees to immediately get votes, but Republicans have refused. By filing a cloture motion, Reid can set up votes on the nominees without the consent of Republicans, though the process is more time-consuming. It appears the majority leader decided a lengthy confirmation process is better than no process at all.
Reid tried to get a unanimous consent agreement for Wednesday's nominees, but was rebuffed by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who signaled that Republicans will keep gumming up the nominations process as payback for Democrats pushing through filibuster reform last year. Democrats revamped filibuster rules in response to GOP obstruction of many Obama nominees for political reasons.
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Full article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/harry-reid-judicial-nominees_n_4776552.html
