President Obama has nominated Rebecca Haywood of Pennsylvania to fill a vacancy on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that opened last July. She would bring to the bench her many years of experience with the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Western District of Pennsylvania, where she is now Chief of the Appellate Division. If confirmed, she would be the first woman of color to ever serve on the Third Circuit.
“If confirmed.” It’s up to the Senate to thoroughly vet the nominee and vote on whether to confirm her. Yet Senate Republicans who are refusing to #DoYourJob with any Supreme Court nomination have also been bottling up President Obama’s lower court nominees, as well. There are already five other circuit court nominees who have yet to be granted hearings before the Judiciary; some have been waiting for more than two months already.
The bottleneck must end. The president continues to do his job by nominating qualified jurists to serve on our nation’s courts. Haywood and all of the other judicial nominees should receive the timely and fair consideration contemplated by the Constitution.