00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 33                                                                    
01 Urging our United States Senators to work to allow a timely vote on the floor on all                                    
02 judicial nominations.                                                                                                   
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution states that the                                 
05 President "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall                                  
06 appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and                               
07 all other Officers of the United States"; and                                                                           
08       WHEREAS the Administrative Office of the United States Courts has classified 22                                 
09 judgeships as "judicial emergencies"; and                                                                               
10       WHEREAS 43 of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees are pending before                                   
11 the United States Senate; and                                                                                           
12       WHEREAS 63 percent of President Bush's Court of Appeals nominations have been                                   
13 to fill seats classified as judicial emergencies; and                                                                   
14       WHEREAS 42 percent of President Bush's District Court nominations have been to                                  
15 fill seats classified as judicial emergencies; and                                                                      
16       WHEREAS a minority of senators have used dilatory tactics to prevent a Senate floor                             

01 vote on six of President Bush's judicial nominees, all of whom were reported favorably by the                           
02 Committee on the Judiciary; and                                                                                         
03       WHEREAS each of President Bush's judicial nominees reported favorably by the                                    
04 Committee on the Judiciary enjoys the support of a majority of the United States Senate, as                             
05 required by the United States Constitution;                                                                             
06       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges our United States                                        
07 Senators to work to allow a timely vote on the floor of the United States Senate on all judicial                        
08 nominations.                                                                                                            
09       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
10 of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States                              
11 and President of the U.S. Senate; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa                               
12 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                  
13 the Alaska delegation in Congress.