Senate Judiciary Committee member John Cornyn is forcefully condemning majority leader Harry Reid’s failure to live up to his promise to “do everything within [his] power” to confirm three federal appellate nominees by Memorial Day:

It is inexcusable that the Majority Leader broke his commitment to confirm three judicial nominees before Memorial Day, despite knowing there were long-pending nominees who could be confirmed before the deadline. He had ample opportunity to honor his pledge, yet his actions failed to match his words…. I fear that the Majority Leader’s unwillingness to confirm judges will have negative consequences not only for our federal judiciary, but the Senate’s broader agenda.

This last sentence of Senator Cornyn’s calls to mind Senator Specter’s previous threat to shut down the Senate’s proceedings if the Democratic obstruction of judicial nominees continues. Let’s hope that lots of other Republican senators are ready to make Democratic senators pay a price for their obstruction.