SENATE REJECTION OF JUDICIAL NOMINEES CRITICIZED

          Harrisburg, May 14, 2008 -- Senator Michael A. O’Pake, the Senate Democratic Whip, criticized a Senate vote today that defeated a group of four appellate court nominations made by the Governor.
          O’Pake said the fact that the four nominees, including two Republicans and two Democrats, are all well-proven and highly respected jurists and lawyers, refutes Republican leaders’ complaints that the governor did not fully seek their advice on the nominations.
          “I am confident there is no dispute about the qualifications of these nominees, so voting them down today is just another example of the usual from Harrisburg, which is not what the people want or expect from us,” the Reading Democrat said. “This disrespects the nominees and it fails the people of Pennsylvania.”
          “The Constitution does not require the Governor to follow the advice of the Senate. If that were the case, presumably it would give the appointment power to the Senate rather than to the governor,” he said. “The purpose of the confirmation provisions is to make sure that the governor nominates judges to fill vacancies, and that the Senate makes sure that they are properly qualified to do the job.”
          O’Pake said the 24-26 vote, in which only three Republican Senators joined Democrats to support the nominations, also flew in the face of repeated calls by the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania to confirm the governor’s nominees.
          “Chief Justice Castille, who was the Republican District Attorney of Philadelphia, more than two months ago and again recently has urged approval of these nominations because of the urgent need to fill vacancies on our appellate courts,” O’Pake said.  “We need to remember that justice delayed is justice denied.”
          The nominees were retired Superior Court President Judge James Gardner Collins to the Supreme Court, Judges Robert C. Daniels and James J. Fitzgerald III to Superior Court, and Duquesne University Law School Professor Kenneth C. Gormley to Commonwealth Court. Daniels would have served until the end of this year. The others would have served until the end of 2009.
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TO HEAR SENATOR O'PAKE'S FULL SENATE FLOOR REMARKS IN SUPPORT OF THE NOMINEES, CLICK HERE