Happy Monday!

Let's see, I hope everyone is getting ready for the holidays and things are starting to slow down until the New Year.

A few items that caught my eye this morning:

1.  Spencer is lighting a giant Menorah (caution -- video is very hamish).

2.  Judge Jordan's nomination stalled at year end. 

Here's a portion of Senator Leahy's powerful 12/17/11 statement on this gridlock:

Our courts need qualified Federal judges, not vacancies, if they are to reduce the excessive wait times that burden litigants seeking their day in court. It is unacceptable for hardworking Americans who are seeking their day in court to suffer unnecessary delays.  When an injured plaintiff sues to help cover the cost of his or her medical expenses, that plaintiff should not have to wait for three years before a judge hears the case.  When two small business owners disagree over a contract, they should not have to wait years for a court to resolve their dispute. 

With one in ten Federal judgeships currently vacant, the Senate should have come together to address the serious judicial vacancies crisis on Federal courts around the country.  Bill Robinson, the president of the American Bar Association, warned recently in a letter to Senate leaders that excessive vacancies and high caseloads “deprive… our federal courts of the capacity to deliver timely justice in civil matters and has real consequences for the financial well-being of businesses and for individual litigants whose lives are put on hold pending resolution of their disputes.”  Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy and Chief Justice Roberts have also warned of the serious problems created by persistent judicial vacancies.  This is an issue affecting hardworking Americans who are denied justice when their cases are delayed by overburdened courts.

If caseloads were really a concern of Republican Senators, as they contended when they filibustered the nomination last week of Caitlin Halligan to the D.C. Circuit, they would not have blocked us from voting to confirm consensus nominees to fill judicial emergency vacancies.  They would have consented to consider the nomination of Judge Adalberto Jordan of Florida which was reported unanimously on October to fill a judicial emergency vacancy on the Eleventh Circuit.  He is a well-respected Federal judge and his nomination is strongly supported by Florida’s Republican Senator, Senator Rubio.  Yet, despite the judicial emergency Republicans continue to delay consideration of that nomination.

 3.  Newt wants US Marshals to round up "activist" federal judges:

The former House speaker Sunday showed no sign of letting up on his assault on such judges. During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Gingrich suggested the president could send federal law enforcement authorities to arrest judges who make controversial rulings in order to compel them to justify their decisions before congressional hearings.

When host Bob Schieffer asked how he would force federal judges to comply with congressional subpoenas, Gingrich said he would send the U.S. Capitol Police or U.S. Marshals to arrest the judges and force them to testify.

How could this possibly go wrong?