The Senate on Wednesday confirmed U.S. District Judge William Sessions III as the new chairman of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Confirmation came six months and a day after President Barack Obama nominated Sessions to the post. Sessions has been vice chair of the commission since 1999, and he was confirmed Wednesday without opposition.
This summer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) accused Republicans of stalling Sessions’ nomination in retaliation for the speed of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation process. Sessions sits in the District of Vermont, also home of the Democratic chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy.
“I must say that in my numerous conversations with Republican Senators and Republican Senate leaders during the last six months, no one raised any dispute or criticism or reason for this obstruction and delay,” Leahy said in a statement.
A spokesman said he did not know when Sessions would be sworn in.
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