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U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution, made the following statement Thursday regarding the unconstitutional and unprecedented filibusters against President Bush’s nominees to the federal bench:"A partisan minority of the Senate continued the unwarranted filibuster of Bill Pryor today by refusing to allow even a vote on his nomination. This obstruction is wholly unprecedented and wrong. It offends the history of the Senate, and unfortunately, is part of a larger scheme of obstructing the President’s nominees to the federal bench – and obstruction that grows daily."Sadly, what we saw on the Senate floor today was that a partisan minority bowed to the desires of special interest groups concerned only with obstructing as many of President Bush’s judicial nominees as they can get away with. I can only hope my colleagues realize that by blocking votes on qualified nominees, they make themselves allies to groups that rejoice at the prospect of a Senate in constant gridlock."I hope that by the end of this session of Congress, my colleagues will give the President’s qualified nominees what they, and all current and future nominees deserve: the opportunity to have a fair up-or-down vote on their nomination. Four unconstitutional filibusters are already four too many. For the sake of the Senate, the nation, and our independent judiciary, I hope that we will not have four more filibusters, but I’m not holding my breath. 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.