The U.S. Senate has confirmed Latino judicial nominee John Michael Vazquez on Wednesday evening to serve as a judge in the Federal District Court in the District of New Jersey.

Confirming John Michael Vazquez

The Senate voted 84-2 to confirm Vazquez. Fourteen senators were not present to vote, including Latino Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas. The sole Latino Democrat in the Senate, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, voted in favor of Vazquez, who was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 26, 2015.

Ahead of the vote, Menendez addressed the Senate to speak about Vazquez -- a fellow New Jerseyan with impressive credentials.

"When I think about the breadth and scope of what comes before a federal district court judge, I can only think about the breadth and scope of his experience," said Menendez. "He understands both sides of the legal equation: the prosecution and the defense of a case. ... He is an eminently qualified nominee with impressive credentials and experience who will fill a 'judicial emergency' vacancy in the District of New Jersey."

"And in addition to intellect, judgment, temperament, observance to the rule of law and the separation of powers, he diversifies our Judiciary as a Hispanic American -- something that I think is also very important to be able to have any American walk into any court in the land and believe that the possibility of someone like them may very well be sitting in judgment of them," added Menendez.

In the end, only two Republican voted against Vazquez: Dan Sullivan of Alaska and James Lankford of Oklahoma.

As previously noted, Republican presidential candidates Cruz and Rubio were not present to vote. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a Democratic presidential candidate, also was not present for the vote.

"I was not surprised by the John Michael Vazquez vote because he was a well qualified, consensus nominee and New Jersey desperately needs to fill the four judicial emergency vacancies because they delay cases," said Carl Tobias, law professor at the University of Richmond, to Latin Post. "There was never any controversy over [Vazquez] and his hearing went smoothly. There was no reason to delay his final vote so long."

Confirming Troubles for Dax Eric López

Vazquez is the latest Latino judicial nominee to receive his confirmation vote, just a couple weeks after the Senate confirmed fellow Latino Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo on Jan. 11, to Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Fellow nominee Eric Dax López was nominated on July 30, 2015, to serve on the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, which, if confirmed, would have him become the first Latino to serve as a lifetime-appointed federal judge in Georgia, but the process was officially blocked on Jan. 21.

As Latin Post reported, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said he was "uncomfortable" with López's relationship with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), which the Republican senator labeled as "controversial." With Perdue's opposition, he, therefore, will not submit the "blue slip" to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which home-state senators usually submit as a sign of approval before the hearing.

"I think Sen. Perdue's blocking of Lopez was unfortunate," said Tobias. "The blue slip rule allows one home state senator to veto any nominee. The preferable approach would have been to grant Lopez a hearing and let Sen. Perdue ask him questions about issues that trouble the senator and give Lopez a chance to respond."

According to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Perdue had submitted López's name to the White House for consideration to the Federal district court.

"There is nothing in Judge López's record to suggest that he could not or would not be an impartial judge. ... Those who oppose Judge López have decided that because he was on the Board of Directors of an organization that advocates certain policies with which they disagree, they refuse to even consider his record or his own merits," said Leahy. "This new litmus test for his membership in a nonpartisan organization sets a dangerous precedent that senators should reject."

López, who has been serving as a judge for the State Court of DeKalb County since 2010 -- appointed by then-Georgia Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue -- is also a Republican.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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