Judiciary chairman blasts Senate GOP for slowing judicial confirmations

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). blasted the Senate GOP on Tuesday night for slowing the upper chamber's pace on confirming President Obama's judicial nominees after 20 were left in limbo for the month-long recess.

"I am disappointed as Senate Republicans continue to delay these much needed and long awaited confirmations," said Leahy. "[T]he Senate’s Republican leadership has refused to consent to vote on these qualified, consensus nominations."

Prior to recessing for a month, the Senate on Tuesday night confirmed just four of 24 pending nominees. Sixteen of the 20 still unconfirmed were reported out of the committee unopposed. 

A senior GOP aid, however, responded to Leahy's statement, telling The Hill it was, in part, Democratic leadership's fault that so few nominees have been processed, since the majority party controls the Senate's schedule.

"If the Democrats would have managed the floor better during July, then they could have processed more," he said. "How many days did we have quorum calls and nothing to do? Presumably Pat Leahy knows Harry Reid’s phone number and could have asked to move some of the nominees."

"Instead, he evidently did nothing, except complain after the work period was over," the staffer added. 

The Senate has confirmed just 11 judicial nominations since the Memorial Day recess in May, and 35 total nominees this year.

The nominees confirmed Wednesday night were Sara L. Darrow to the Central District of Illinois, Richard B. Jackson to the District of Colorado, Kathleen M. Williams to the Southern District of Florida, and Nelva G. Ramos to the Southern District of Texas.