Senate votes to confirm NY district judges

By Ramsey Cox - 03/04/13 06:59 PM ET

The Senate voted to confirm two U.S. district judges to New York on Monday.

Katherine Polk Failla was confirmed on a 91-0 vote to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York.

Moments before Failla’s confirmation vote, Pamela Ki Mai Chen was confirmed by voice-vote to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he “enthusiastically” supported both Failla and Chen’s nominations.

Schumer called Chen “fair, decent and honest" and Failla “highly intelligent and analytical.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced earlier Monday that the Senate would also vote on Caitlin Joan Halligan, a District of Columbia circuit court nominee, later in the week.

Schumer said Halligan has waited 23 months for an up-or-down vote in the Senate on her nomination.

Republicans blocked Halligan’s nomination during the last Congress, despite the fact that the D.C. circuit court has four judicial vacancies. Some GOP members have criticized her views on gun-control and abortion as too extreme.