Sen. Ron Johnson Skips Hearing on Nomination to Fill Nation’s Longest Federal Judicial Vacancy

MADISON, Wis. — A media report says Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson failed to appear at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today on the nomination of Donald Schott to fill a vacancy on the Federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Typically both Senators from the nominee’s home state appear at their hearing. Wisconsin’s U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin was in attendance according to the same media report.

Johnson’s intransigence on the Seventh Circuit vacancy, spanning his entire term in the U.S. Senate, has resulted in the court, whose jurisdiction includes Wisconsin, suffering from the longest running judicial vacancy in the nation. Among the consequences of his judicial obstructionism was when a decision in a critical case on Wisconsin’s voter ID law was left deadlocked.

One Wisconsin Institute, a member of the Why Courts Matter coalition in Wisconsin, recently released the results of a statewide survey gauging public opinion on the unprecedented obstruction and potential consequences of Senate Republicans, including Ron Johnson, refusing to do their jobs on the nominee to the nation’s highest court. According to the survey of 600 Wisconsin voters, sixty-four percent think the U.S. Senate should hold hearings and then have an up-or-down confirmation vote on Judge Garland;

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Institute Research Director Jenni Dye :

“Another day has come and gone and Sen. Ron Johnson continues to refuse to do his job when it comes to judicial nominees. Today he couldn’t even extend the courtesy to appear in committee on behalf of a Wisconsin court nominee to fill a nearly six year old judicial vacancy caused by his intransigence.

“And Sen. Johnson continues to march lockstep with his Washington D.C. leadership in an unprecedented political power play blocking the President’s nominee to our nation’s Supreme Court.

“When Ron Johnson refuses to do his job, our courts can’t do theirs. And that means people in Wisconsin and across the nation are being denied justice.”