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Our Opinion: Offensive emails raise doubts about Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice’s judgment

<p>When I travel across the commonwealth, host public town halls or telephone town halls, or sit down with constituents for a cup of coffee, I often hear complaints about how partisan Washington has become and how little is being done in Congress to help Pennsylvania.</p><p>I, too, get frustrated when partisanship gets in the way of legislating. And while the Senate has rolled up its sleeves and passed more bills in 2015 than in recent years, I understand why many Pennsylvanians feel this way.</p><p>Fortunately, partisanship and gridlock do not have to stop Washington from doing business. As Sen. Bob Casey and I have shown, bipartisanship and cooperation can work and produce real results.</p><p>So let me discuss one example of this cooperation: federal judges.</p><p>Pennsylvania has three federal judicial districts and is covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. When vacancies occur in the district courts, Sen. Casey and I vet and recommend candidates whom the president will then typically nominate. For vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, the White House, Sen. Casey and I collaborate on a suitable nominee.</p><p>When I took office in 2011, Pennsylvania had a number of vacancies on the federal bench. At the time, the federal courthouses in Easton, Reading and Williamsport all lacked a sitting federal district judge. The Erie courthouse currently lacks a federal district judge as well. Clearly, Pennsylvania not only needed more federal judges, but also needed these judges to be more geographically dispersed across the state so all Pennsylvanians could access justice conveniently.</p><p>That is why Sen. Casey and I, along with the White House, have worked on a bipartisan basis to fill judicial vacancies. In fact, since 2011, Sen. Casey and I have vetted, recommended and confirmed 14 U.S. District Court judges and one judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit &#8211; with the result that during this time, Pennsylvania has had more federal judges confirmed than any other state except California and New York. And Easton, Reading and Williamsport now have sitting federal district judges working in each of their federal courthouses.</p><p>There is a lot of work required to recommend and confirm each judge. Sen. Casey and I established bipartisan panels in each federal judicial district. These experienced, knowledgeable panels vet and interview district judge applicants and then make recommendations to Sen. Casey and me. We review these recommendations, conduct our own interviews and then agree on which finalists to submit to the White House. The White House then carries out its own background investigation. If everything checks out, the president nominates our recommended candidates. The Senate Judiciary Committee then reviews the nominees, conducts yet another background investigation, and, barring any disqualifying discoveries, approves them so they can receive a confirmation vote in the full Senate.</p><p>This is a time-consuming process, but it has been working for Pennsylvania &#8211; including this very month.</p><p>On Dec. 9, the Senate agreed to schedule a confirmation vote for Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo for a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. That same day, four federal district judge nominees for Pennsylvania &#8211; including one to fill the vacant courthouse in Erie &#8211; received a hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee and are one step closer to getting confirmed.</p><p>If all five of these nominations are approved by the Senate, and I am confident they will be, Sen. Casey and I will have worked together to confirm a total of 20 judges to Pennsylvania&#8217;s federal courts &#8211; significant progress for our state. It is an accomplishment that not only helps Pennsylvania, but it also shows what can be achieved when two senators from opposite parties rise above the gridlock and partisanship to put their constituents first.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Pat Toomey</p><p>Contributing Columnist</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Pat Toomey, of Zionsville, is the junior U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. For information, visit <a href="http://www.toomey.senate.gov/" target="_blank">www.toomey.senate.gov</a>.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey: By putting aside partisanship in Pa., we’ve succeeded in filling federal judicial vacancies