Obama's nomination for US Appeals Court Judge blocked by Republicans
President Barack Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals has been blocked by Senate Republicans.
President Obama said in a statement that he was “deeply disappointed” with the partisan vote. He has said, “Today's vote dramatically lowers the bar used to justify a filibuster.”
Under Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to break a filibuster. The final Senate vote on Obama’s nominee was 54 Democrats pro and 45 Republicans opposing. Democrats lost the ability to counter a Republican block by six votes.
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Caitlin Halligan, 44, Obama’s nominee for the U.S Court of Appeals, served as the New York State solicitor general before her current position as general counsel in the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Republican Senators “are blocking 20 other highly qualified judicial nominees, half of whom I have nominated to fill vacancies deemed 'judicial emergencies' by the Administrative Office of the Courts," Obama added.
Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, cited past rejections of many Republican nominees like Peter Keisler for U.S Court of Appeals in 2006, as part of the Republican dissension.
"Mr. Keisler was eminently qualified to serve on that court," said Grassley, according to AP. "He had a distinguished academic and professional record. Despite his qualifications, Mr. Keisler waited 918 days for a committee vote, which never came."
According to Grassley, several of President Bush’s nominees experienced "delays, filibusters, multiple hearings, and other forms of obstruction."
Senate Republicans also painted Halligan as a left-winged danger to the court.
Senator Grassley referred to Halligan’s signing of a New York City’s bar association panel report objecting to the military detaining suspected terrorists as a reason for the Republican decision to block her. Grassley said Halligan also participated in lawsuits "attempting to hold handgun manufacturers liable for criminal acts committed with handguns."
"This should be a consensus nomination, not a source of controversy and contention,” Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said according to AP. "Concocted controversies and a blatant misreading of Ms. Halligan's record as an advocate are no reason to obstruct this outstanding nomination.”
