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U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution, made the following statement Thursday after the committee vote on the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The vote was 10-9 in favor of confirmation: "Though I commend my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee for voting to move Justice Brown’s nomination to the full Senate, the party-line vote against her is unwarranted, and indicates further obstruction on the floor. This ever-growing obstruction is disturbing, but sadly, all too common. "Anyone can give lip service to the goal of opportunity for all citizens, but we’ve seen this disconnect between words and actions before. When well qualified judicial nominees face obstruction for specious claims, it's an ominous sign of things to come, and a troubling reminder of things long past. "The current filibusters of judicial nominees are unprecedented, in this body’s history and this nation’s history. Even the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in a recent electronic newsletter signed by my distinguished colleague from New Jersey , acknowledges – indeed, he boasts – that the current blockade of judicial nominees is ‘unprecedented.’ "What are the special interest groups afraid of? If Justice Brown is as far out of the mainstream as her opponents claim, surely more than a partisan minority of the senate will vote against her on the Senate floor. But the partisan minority obstructing her nomination, and the special interest groups driving them know the truth: a bipartisan majority of the senate would quickly confirm Justice Brown, like all other nominees now facing an unprecedented filibuster, if she were simply allowed a fair up-or-down vote. "A bipartisan majority of the Senate stands ready to confirm this nomination, and I hope that vote will occur soon. The American people sent us here to debate, and then to vote—not to obstruct the President’s nominees for purely partisan reasons." Sen. Cornyn chairs the subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Property Rights, and is the only former judge on the committee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge. He introduced Justice Brown at her confirmation hearing.