On June 23, 2008, pro-abortion Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) announced that a number of judges who had been stymied in confirmation would get an up or down vote. This follows a harrowing number of weeks in which Majority Leader Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) played parliamentary possum over the judges’ confirmation. Reid finally agreed to allow the Senate to vote this week.

The circuit court nominees are Helene White and Ray Kethledge, both nominated for Michigan seats on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The district court nominees are G. Murray Snow of Arizona, William T. Lawrence for the Southern District of Indiana and Steven Murphy for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Republicans have been prodding Democrats to confirm 15 appellate court nominees by the end of the Congress in order to match the historical average of the George H.W. Bush & Bill Clinton Administrations. The pro-abortion Democratic controlled Congress has approved only eight judges in the current Congress. The pro-abortion Democratic Senate leadership believes such an issue could help the Republicans in the fall election.

The stalling that has accompanied these qualified nominees will only intensify next year if Congress loses even more dedicated pro-lifers in the 2008 election. And it’s a preview of the long and difficult road ahead for any potential Supreme Court nominees of the future.