For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 9, 2002
President Urges Senate to Act on Judicial Vacancy Crisis
Remarks by the President After Meeting with Members of Congress on Federal Judicial Nominations
The Roosevelt Room
THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank the senators for being here today;
we're talking about a judges. We have a vacancy crisis in America.
There are too many seats that aren't filled with judges and, therefore,
America hurts, America is not getting the justice it needs.
Ours is a system that relies upon an independent court system, and
when there is vacancies, the American people suffer. And I call upon
the Senate to approve -- at least give hearings to people we've sent
up to the Senate. There are 30 circuit court vacancies in America, and
they've approved seven. This is a bad record, and it's a record that's
bad for the country.
Over a year ago I submitted the names of 11 qualified,
well-qualified Americans, and the Senate has only dealt on three of
them. These senators here bring stories about circuit courts in their
own states, in their own districts that because of vacancies, good,
honest Americans aren't getting their hearings. And this isn't right.
For the good of the country, the Senate needs to act and act
expeditiously on the nominees I've sent up. It's important that our
judiciary be full.
I'll be glad to answer a couple of questions.
Arshad.
Q Mr. President --
THE PRESIDENT: You're second, Sonya.
Q Mr. President, do you think this is just -- do you think
this is just raw politics on the part of the Democrats?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you can ask the senators here. But, yes, I
do. I think it's bad politics. These are well-qualified -- you
know, they've relied upon the American Bar Association in the past.
These nominees have been given well-qualified or qualified ratings.
Yes, I think it's raw politics and I think it's bad for the country.
Sonya.
Q Mr. President, the CIA --
THE PRESIDENT: Is this going to have anything to do about judges?
Q -- launched a missile attack against an Afghan warlord. Is
this now U.S. policy --
THE PRESIDENT: What was that, again?
Q Near Kabul, an Afghan warlord survived a missile attack, and
this has been acknowledged today by government officials. I'm trying
to -- what my question to you is, is whether this is now the policy to
pursue with missiles anyone that's -- I mean, why are we firing at
this man? Is he suspected to be Taliban or al Qaeda?
THE PRESIDENT: I can assure you when we go after individuals in
the theater of war, it's because they intend to do some harm to
America.
Q Mr. President, last night your budget director said that he
had, in his words, grave doubt whether the deficit can be erased by
2004, as your administration previously said that it would be. Does it
give you any concern that you might be facing a reelection campaign at
a time when the budget would still be in red ink?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I'm not thinking that far ahead
about my election. I am thinking about how to win a war, how to get
this country's economy growing and how to deal with a national
emergency.
When I ran for office I said the only way we'd have a deficit, as
far as I was concerned, if any of those three happened. All three
happened. And I firmly believe that we need to spend what it takes to
protect our freedoms, and we're going to do that. We need to make sure
our military has got the best equipment, the best training, the best
pay possible to win this war.
And it's going to take a while to win the war. This isn't a war
that's going to end tomorrow. It's a war that is going to require a
steady, patient, united country going after people who still want to
harm America. It's going to require money to make sure our national
security, homeland security is intact.
And in terms of the economy, the economy is beginning to come back
-- but certainly not as strong as I would like. And until the economy
comes back as strong as it can, revenues aren't going to be as good as
they should be.
Q Mr. President, Israeli officials told me yesterday that you
weren't against the idea of moving Yasser Arafat out of a position of
power in a reformed Palestinian Authority as long as he was neither
hurt nor exiled. Is that an accurate reflection of your opinion?
THE PRESIDENT: No, it's not. No, it's not an accurate reflection
of what went on in the Oval Office, as the Secretary of State has made
clear -- who was in the meeting, as well.
What is an accurate reflection of my opinion is that Mr. Arafat has
let the Palestinian people down. He hasn't led. And as a result, the
Palestinians suffer and my heart breaks for the Palestinian moms and
dads who wonder whether or not their children are going to be able to
get a good education and whether or not there's going to be a job
available for their children.
And one of the things that we did talk about was how to put
institutions in place so that a potential Palestinian state can be a
peaceful neighbor with Israel. Reforms, such as making sure there is a
single command security force that can be held accountable for
arresting terrorists; reforms such as having a kind of economic system
that would help promote rule of law and defeat corruption; reform so
that if there is ever a rebuilding campaign -- which we've expressed
an interest in doing and the Europeans have -- that the money is
actually spent on the projects that we intend them to be spent on. And
that's what we did discuss.
Q Do you have any confidence that the Hamas members arrested
today, sir, will stay in jail?
THE PRESIDENT: We'll have to see. But what I said was -- I said
I was pleased that Chairman Arafat spoke in Arabic against terrorism.
That's good. That's a positive development. Now it's up to Chairman
Arafat to perform, to keep them in jail; arrest them and keep them in
jail. In order for there to be peace, there must be -- we must rout
out terror. And the answer to your question, time will tell.