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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), joined by all freshmen Senators, urged the Senate leadership Wednesday to seek a fresh start and create a better process for the Senate’s consideration of judicial nominations. Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, led the group of new Senators in petitioning for timely consideration of all judicial nominees."The Senate needs to find an end to the downward spiral of accusations, obstruction and delay,” Cornyn said. “The President’s nominees, and in fact our entire judicial system, deserve no less.” in the letter, the Senators wrote that, “when a well qualified nominee for the federal bench is denied a vote, the obstruction is justified on the grounds of how a prior nominee – typically, the nominees of a previous President – was treated. All of these recriminations, made by members on both sides of the aisle, relate to circumstances which occurred before any of us arrived in the United States Senate.” the letter continued: “None of us were parties to any of the reported past offenses, whether real or perceived. None of us believe that the ill will of the past should dictate the terms and direction of the future.”Rather than continue the obstruction that has plagued nominees in the past, the ten Senators committed themselves to solutions for all nominees. “We seek a bipartisan solution that will protect the integrity and independence of our nation’s courts, ensure fairness for judicial nominees, and leave the bitterness of the past behind us.” the letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. It was signed by Sens. Cornyn, Pryor, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Sununu (R-NH), and Jim Talent (R-Mo). Also copied on the letter were Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and the panel’s senior Democrat, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt). Sen. Cornyn will hold a hearing of the Constitution subcommittee on May 6 to discuss reform of the broken judicial process. The hearing, titled Judicial Nominations, Filibusters, and the Constitution: When a majority is denied its right to consent, will be held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 226 at 2 p.m. The hearing will take place nearly two years after the President announced his first class of nominees to the federal courts of appeals, including Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen. Her nomination is currently being filibustered in the Senate. Sen. Cornyn chairs the subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Property Rights, and is the only former judge on the committee. He also serves on the Armed Services, Environment and Public Works, and Budget Committees. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.