Matt, I have a few additional questions: Why was Saad left languishing in committee for nearly three years after his July 2003 hearing? Why didn’t the Republican majority on the committee report his nomination to the Senate floor? If it had done so, would majority leader Frist have pushed for an up-or-down vote on the nomination? Or would it have been left in seemingly endless limbo, like the nominations of Terry Boyle to the Fourth Circuit and William Myers to the Ninth Circuit, both of which were reported to the full Senate over a year ago? Why does a 55-member Republican majority defer to two Democrats from Michigan? Why are the nominations of William Haynes to the Fourth Circuit and Brett Kavanaugh to the D.C. Circuit still mired in committee, 28 months and 23 months, respectively, after their hearings?
Perhaps there are good answers to these questions. Whatever the real answers are, it would be good to hear them.