[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 18 (Monday, May 5, 2003)]
[Pages 499-500]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Senate Confirmation of Jeffrey S. Sutton as a Judge on the 
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

April 29, 2003

    I commend the Senate for confirming Jeffrey Sutton to be a Judge on 
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Mr. Sutton

[[Page 500]]

is a man of great integrity, intellect, and experience, and has 
bipartisan support. He has served the people of Ohio with distinction, 
including as the State's solicitor. He graduated first in his class from 
Ohio State University College of Law. He is known as one of the premier 
appellate lawyers in America, having argued numerous cases before the 
Supreme Court of the United States, and State and Federal appeals 
courts. He will be an outstanding Court of Appeals Judge and will serve 
the American people well.
    All judicial nominees should receive a timely up-or-down vote in the 
Senate. Mr. Sutton was nominated on May 9, 2001, and waited more than 23 
months for this vote. Five of the 11 nominees I submitted to the Senate 
on May 9, 2001, still have not received votes. Some in the Senate are 
now engaging in unprecedented filibusters to prevent votes on two 
outstanding circuit nominees I submitted on May 9, 2001, Miguel Estrada 
and Priscilla Owen.
    The delays in the Senate confirmation process deter good people from 
seeking to serve on the bench and create a vacancy crisis in the Federal 
courts that harms the American people. As I have said before, I call on 
the Senate to perform its Constitutional responsibility to hold timely 
up-or-down votes on all judicial nominees, no matter who is President or 
which party controls the Senate.