Sen. John Cornyn (R.-Tex.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement Monday after 14 senators struck a deal to avert the nuclear option. “After enduring years of harsh, unjustified attacks, Justice Priscilla Owen, Justice Janice Rogers Brown, and Judge William Pryor will finally get an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. The signatories have also agreed not to filibuster judicial nominations in the future except under extraordinary circumstances. But Owen, Brown, and Pryor are highly qualified nominees who are firmly committed to the rule of law. They should never have been filibustered in the first place, and I expect the signatories to hold firm to their agreement not to filibuster similarly qualified nominees in the future. Otherwise, the spirit of the deal will be broken, and signatories will be and should feel free to take action to restore the 214-year Senate tradition of majority vote. “The Senate judicial confirmation process has been at times emotional and politically divisive, and that is unfortunate. But all Americans of good faith should at least agree that we need a fair process for selecting judges ?" with full investigation, full questioning, full debate, and then an up-or-down vote. And all Americans should agree that, although nobody likes to lose, the rules should always be the same, regardless of whether the president is Republican or Democrat. President after President after President have seen their judicial nominees confirmed by majority vote, not supermajority vote. Senators should uphold and restore that 214-year tradition. “I will continue to advocate for up-or-down votes on all of the President’s judicial nominees.”
