The U.S. Senate's delay to confirm President Barack Obama's emergency judicial nominees has created backlogs of cases including juvenile immigration cases.

Six months ago, Obama nominated Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo, currently serving the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania since June 2013, to become one of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit -- which includes parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Although Obama nominated Restrepo six months ago, the seat has been vacated for 18 months.

A judicial hearing for Restrepo has not been set, and most eyes were set on Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Penn., for causing the obstruction. Despite praising Obama for Restrepo's nomination in November, Toomey waited until mid-May to submit his approval for a Senate Judicial Committee hearing on Restrepo's nomination. Toomey said the delay was because he was waiting for the Judiciary Committee's background check on Restrepo to finish. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Penn., however, submitted his approval last November.

According to a brief from the Center for American Progress (CAP), Pennsylvania has five federal judicial vacancies, which has resulted in a backlog of over 3,400 cases and a "denial of access to justice for Pennsylvanians."

"This obstruction comes despite Judge Restrepo's position as a District Court judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, for which he was nominated and confirmed by the full Senate in 2013, less than two years ago," wrote CAP's Sean Wright, Anisha Singh and Michael Morrill in a brief released Thursday.

"Judge Repestro is a highly qualified first-generation Latino nominee with a solid history as a defender of civil liberties and civil rights and would be the first judge on that court who has been a public defender. Judge Restrepo would be the first Latino judge from Pennsylvania to serve on the 3rd Circuit Court and only the second Latino judge ever to serve on that court," added Morrill, Singh and Wright.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., during a speech on the Senate floor, accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of slowing down the nomination process of Restrepo and other nominees.

"The Republicans' refusal to consider the president's judicial nominees is especially pronounced," said Reid on May 18.

Reid added, "Imagine that. We know there are judicial emergencies and vacancies throughout the country. But we've only considered 2 judges in this entire Congress. When we began the year, there were 12 judicial emergencies. Today there are 25 judicial emergencies - more than double.

As Latin Post reported, Restrepo was born in Colombia and received his B.A. University of Pennsylvania in 1981 and later become the Defender Association of Philadelphia's assistant defender from 1987 to 1990. In 2006, Restrepo would later receive the call to serve as a federal magistrate judge. During his time as a federal magistrate judge, he was involved in Eastern District of Pennsylvania's reentry program to reintegrate individuals released from federal custody in collaboration with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Federal Defenders Office and U.S. Probation Office.

Restrepo has received support from the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Hispanic National Bar Association. The two aforementioned organizations have also called for an expedited nomination process.

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

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