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A Pennsylvania federal district court nominee will be voted on and presumably approved by the Senate Monday – but it isn’t Robert Mariani, the Scranton labor lawyer nominated by President Obama for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The Senate Judiciary Committee in July approved a trio of Pennsylvania district court nominees: Mariani and Western District nominees Cathy Bissoon and Mark Hornak.

None of the three are considered controversial nominees, all three were cleared out of committee by unanimous voice votes and all three are enthusiastically backed by both Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Scranton and GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Zionsville.

But it is only Bissoon who is on the floor for a vote Monday, and the other two Pennsylvania nominees have yet to be scheduled.

Judicial nominees continue to trickle on to the floor at a relatively slow pace, though lately Democratic and GOP leaders have reached agreements on allowing at least several at a time, not just a single nominee, to be voted on during a week.

Democrats charge that Republicans are slowing the pace of confirming Obama’s nominees for partisan reasons even when it comes to non-controversial nominees who once they come to the floor generally are passed by unanimous consent, not even requiring a recorded tally.

“The continuing Senate Republican refusals to allow a floor vote on Mariani is a prime example of mindless partisan obstruction: he will fill an emergency vacancy, has strong bipartisan support from his home-state senators, was approved in July without dissent in the Judiciary Committee, and that he was originally nominated last year,” said Glenn Sugameli, a staff attorney with Defenders of Wildlife in Washington and head of the Judging the Environment project, which works with progressive groups on federal judicial selection issues.

Republicans note that Democrats raised obstacles when a Republican was in the White House, and point out that Obama at times has been slow to send a nominee for an open seat to the Senate.

For his part, Toomey is working to ensure that all three Pennsylvania nominees reach the floor and are confirmed, according to his office.

“We’re actively pushing for the other PA judicial nominees and remain hopeful that all will be confirmed soon,” said Rebecca Neal, a Toomey spokeswoman.

The likelihood is that Mariani will reach the Senate floor eventually, and probably before the fall is over, but the judicial confirmation schedule remains slow and seemingly capricious.

 

About the Author

Jonathan Riskind is The Times Leader Washington correspondent. He focuses on covering Congress and how what happens in Washington impacts on the Wyoming Valley, with an emphasis on the lawmakers and politics of the 10th and 11th congressional districts and Pennsylvania's U.S. senators. He is a veteran Washington reporter who also is the D.C. bureau chief for MaineToday Media and a former bureau chief for the Columbus Dispatch.

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