Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley yesterday announced there will be a judicial nominations hearing next Wednesday, the first one since March 11. He let eight weeks go by without allowing any of President Obama's judicial nominees to testify to the committee. It isn't like there haven't been plenty of nominees who have long been ready for this. Most of those nominated as far back as last November have yet to make it even that far.
As we have written before, Eastern Pennsylvania federal judge L. Felipe Restrepo is among those nominees being obstructed. Confirmed to his current position by the Senate by unanimous voice vote in June of 2013, he earned strong statements of support from home state senators Bob Casey (a Democrat) and Pat Toomey (a Republican) when he was nominated for elevation to the Third Circuit last November.
But since then ... nothing. Chairman Grassley has conspicuously refused to schedule a hearing for him. Although Third Circuit Judge Marjorie Rendell announced in late January that she plans to take senior status this summer, thus opening a second vacancy on the court if Restrepo is not confirmed by then, Grassley did not schedule a hearing. And when the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts formally classified the vacancy Restrepo would fill as a judicial emergency in February, Grassley's response was ... nothing.
Pennsylvanians who care about their state's federal courts have been asking where their senators have been all this time, especially Toomey. As a fellow Republican, Toomey surely has Grassley's ear on matters of importance to folks in the Keystone State.
The fact that this nomination has gone for nearly half a year without a hearing says volumes about both Grassley and Toomey. As for saying things about Restrepo, he can best speak for himself, and surely would be pleased to do so, if only Grassley would let him.