Yesterday evening, the Senate voted 88-0 to confirm Lawrence Vilardo to serve on the District Court for the Western District of New York. The Western District of New York was greatly in need of this confirmation—Vilardo will be the only active judge in Buffalo, where civil cases in federal court take a median of five years to reach trial.
While Vilardo’s confirmation is the second in as many weeks, he is only the ninth judge confirmed by the Senate this year. There are eight more nominees who were approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee by unanimous voice votes, but that Senate Majority leadership has refused to bring to the floor for a full Senate vote. One of these nominees was approved by the Judiciary Committee in February, but the full Senate has never been given the opportunity to vote on her confirmation.
Moreover, there are twenty-one judicial nominees whose nominations are pending in the Judiciary Committee—waiting for long-overdue committee votes, which are required before a full Senate vote on confirmation can take place. Two of these nominees have been waiting since February for the Committee to vote to approve their nominations. One more nominee has been waiting since May, two since June, and twelve since July. Six of these pending nominees would fill vacancies declared official judicial emergencies.
There is no excuse for Judiciary Committee leadership to hold up these nominations in committee and there is no excuse for Senate leadership to refuse to allow a vote on the nominees pending on the Senate floor. These unjustifiable hold-ups force understaffed courts to struggle to keep up with ever-expanding caseloads, while those that rely on the courts for justice are forced to suffer the consequences that come with overburdened and understaffed courts.
Lawrence Vilardo’s confirmation will surely help one of those overburdened and understaffed courts, but twenty-nine nominees remain pending in the Senate. Those nominees, and the courts with vacancies they would fill, are still waiting for confirmation votes.


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