Statement of Doug Kendall, President, Constitutional Accountability Center on the Hamilton Filibuster Attempt

March 2, 2010

November 17, 2009

It is outrageous that it has taken the Senate 8 months to clear the way to a vote on David Hamilton. In any normal world, a nominee like Judge Hamilton – with the highest possible ABA rating, and the support of the most senior Republican in the Senate and of the President of the Indiana Federalist Society – would be approved quickly and unanimously.

After years of promising that they would never filibuster a judicial nominee and claiming that it is unconstitutional to do so, 29 Republicans have turned around and led a filibuster against President Obama’s first judicial nominee, David Hamilton. These Republicans have asserted that extraordinary circumstances justify this hypocrisy, but the only extraordinary things about Judge Hamilton are his credentials and his bipartisan support in Indiana. Constitutional Accountability Center hails the 70 Senators of both parties who rejected this attempt to escalate the judicial confirmation wars.