The Republican Senate has reached a new low in its historic effort to obstruct and delay the confirmation of Third Circuit nominee Judge L. Felipe Restrepo.
The tortured history of Restrepo’s odyssey through the Senate confirmation process—from a missing blue slip to a delayed confirmation hearing to a months-long wait on the Senate floor—has been well documented. Yet if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s promise to follow “regular order” means anything, Restrepo’s wait should be at its end: save for one nominee to the Court of International Trade, Restrepo is next in line on the Senate’s Executive Calendar for a confirmation vote. Alas, McConnell announced yesterday that he’s reneging on his promise, and the Senate will skip over Restrepo to vote instead on Eastern District of Tennessee nominee Travis McDonough—a nominee, not coincidentally, recommended by two Republican senators. This transparently partisan maneuver suggests that McConnell and the Republican leadership have no intention of confirming Restrepo this year, choosing instead to leave open a “judicial emergency” on the Third Circuit for the sake of frustrating President Obama. Read more