The Senate voted 55-38 on Thursday to proceed with a vote on the nomination of Pattie Millett to serve on the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit. The weird way that things work in Washington, that majority wasn’t enough for the Senate to proceed with its consideration of the nomination to the court, which is down three judges currently.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., in a statement after the vote, suggested that Senate Republicans have something against qualified female appointees.
“There is simply no excuse for blocking Pattie Millett’s appointment to the federal judiciary. She has served under both Democratic and Republican Solicitor Generals, has argued more cases before the supreme court and circuit courts than all but a handful of attorneys and is uniformly praised by bar groups,” Kaine said.
“I am particularly concerned because Ms. Millett is the second supremely qualified woman that Senate Republicans have chosen to filibuster for this court in the 10 months I have served in the Senate,” Kaine said.
The move by Republicans, coupled with another procedural block in the Senate that held up the nomination of North Carolina Democratic Congressman Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has Senate Democratic leaders once again suggesting the nuclear option of changing Senate rules to prevent filibusters in the future.
Kaine didn’t address that issue in his statement, which was nonetheless seething in substance.
“Some justify their rejection of Ms. Millett by citing a low workload on this court. This argument is a smokescreen,” Kaine said. “Three of the D.C. Circuit’s 11 existing seats are vacant. And even though three other circuits currently have lower caseloads per active judge than the D.C. Circuit, just this year the Senate confirmed nominees to two of these other circuit courts.
“I hope we have the chance to reconsider Ms. Millett’s nomination very soon and will do whatever I can to see that is the case,” Kaine said.
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