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  1. Opinion

Editorial: Marco Rubio playing partisan game on judicial appointment

Sen. Marco Rubio may be re-energized in his last months in office since ending his campaign for president, but he's still playing tired partisan games. By single-handedly blocking the confirmation of a qualified nominee for a federal judgeship, Rubio is complicit in creating a larger problem that does real damage to the functioning of the judicial branch. His new excuses for being an obstructionist do not justify blocking a confirmation hearing.

More than a year ago, President Barack Obama nominated former state judge Mary Barzee Flores to fill a vacancy on the federal bench in South Florida. Rubio has stalled her Senate confirmation by refusing to issue a so-called blue slip, which would clear the way for confirmation hearings. For months, he wouldn't give a clear reason why. This week, he offered some specific objections, reported by Politico, including her past memberships in liberal-leaning groups and her representation decades ago of a defendant in a murder case. Rubio said Barzee Flores was not forthcoming about the memberships or her role in the criminal case. These are not reasons to block a confirmation hearing, and they only inject more partisanship into a vetting process that is designed to be bipartisan.

Barzee Flores is a University of Miami law school graduate who worked for 12 years as a federal assistant public defender. She was elected to the state circuit bench in Miami, where she served until joining a prominent Florida law firm doing commercial litigation. The Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission recommended her for the federal bench, and both Rubio and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson forwarded her name to the White House. She has supporters across the political spectrum who praise her qualifications, and she deserves a confirmation hearing.

Rubio's tactics reflect a broader obstructionist strategy by Senate Republicans who have been stalling Obama's judicial nominations, leading to vacancies nationwide. The seat for which Barzee Flores is nominated has been vacant since May 2014 and is considered a judicial emergency, meaning cases are backlogged. The Washington Post reported that of 673 U.S. district court judgeships, 67 are vacant under Obama. That 10 percent vacancy rate is higher than George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush saw at this point in their presidencies — and each of them also faced a Senate controlled by the other party. Federal trial courts hear thousands of cases a year covering issues such as workplace discrimination, civil rights and regulatory challenges. Yet they cannot do their work and citizens cannot get their day in court because the Senate refuses to fulfill its duty and confirm the president's nominees.

Such obstructionism occurs any time there is divided government and can be inflicted by either political party. But the current inertia is the worst it has been in decades, and Rubio is willingly playing along. The Senate's role is to offer "advice and consent" on the president's judicial nominations. Today's Senate Republicans are openly flouting that constitutional duty, and it is leaving the federal courts crippled.

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