Sen. Pat Toomey
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) has been feeling some heat back home for blocking a judicial nominee for a seat that has been vacant long enough to create a judicial emergency in the third circuit U.S. court of appeals. In an op-ed Thursday, Toomey
lashed back, saying he wasn't blocking the nominee at all, just being responsible in waiting to give his final sign-off to Luis Felipe Restrepo until the committee had finished vetting the nominee. Now we know that that was just a lame excuse, because on Friday
Toomey caved.
Toomey has submitted his so-called "blue slip" to the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving his blessing to holding a hearing on the nomination Luis Felipe Restrepo, now a federal district court judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. A spokeswoman for the senator confirmed the move.
By tradition, the committee will not hold a confirmation hearing until it receives blessings—in the form of the signed slips—from a nominee's home-state senators. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) turned in his in November, shortly after Restrepo was nominated to fill an emergency vacancy. […]
Republicans on the judiciary committee warned that the background check was essential before advancing a nomination for a lifetime spot on the bench. Democrats saw stall tactics intended to hamper President Obama. They noted that Restrepo had cleared a background check before being confirmed for his current post in 2013.
Miraculously, the minute that Toomey said he had to wait until the background check was done, the "new background check has been completed." That's one hurdle cleared for Toomey, who is one of the most vulnerable of Republican senators running for re-election in 2016. Now there's another in the form of Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) who is in absolutely no rush to confirm any more judges under President Obama's watch. Grassley might be forced to make an exception to his obstruction rule here. Allow an Obama appointee in order to try to help save Toomey's bacon.