00Enrolled SJR 33                                                                                                         
01 Urging our United States Senators to work to allow a timely vote on the floor on all judicial                           
02 nominations.                                                                                                            
03                                         _______________                                                                 
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                             
05      WHEREAS art. II, sec. 2, of the United States Constitution states that the President                               
06 "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint                                    
07 Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other                             
08 Officers of the United States"; and                                                                                     
09      WHEREAS the Administrative Office of the United States Courts has classified 24                                    
10 judgeships as "judicial emergencies"; and                                                                               
11      WHEREAS 46 of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees are pending before                                      
12 the United States Senate; and                                                                                           
13      WHEREAS 50 percent of President Bush's Court of Appeals nominations have been                                      
14 to fill seats classified as judicial emergencies; and                                                                   
15      WHEREAS 54 percent of President Bush's District Court nominations have been to                                     
16 fill seats classified as judicial emergencies; and                                                                      
17      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.