More than a year has passed since President Barack Obama nominated a Latino judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Senate has yet to confirm him.

On Nov. 12, 2014, Obama nominated Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo to serve on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Pennsylvania. The president nominated him to fill an emergency vacant seat. He has been working for the U.S. District Judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania since June 2013 and would be the second Latino judge ever to serve on the Third Circuit and the first one from Pennsylvania.

Restrepo required approval from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which finally came in July with a unanimous "yes" vote. The committee's vote, however, was criticized for waiting seven months to vote on Restrepo. Immediately following Obama's nomination, Republican Sen. Patrick Toomey endorsed the nominee, but he was also pressed for delaying the nomination process. Toomey said he was waiting for the standard background check on Restrepo to be completed before allowing the committee's vote, even though the nominee also received a background check in 2013 during the nomination process for the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Despite the delay, Toomey has reiterated his support for Restrepo.

With the Judiciary Committee's approval, the full Senate is now tasked to vote on Restrepo's confirmation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has yet to schedule a confirmation date.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has been vocal in the Senate's slowed process in voting the judicial nominees. Based on Nov. 10 remarks, Leahy said Senate Republicans are "holding up the confirmation process for no good reason." He added judicial vacancies have increased by more than 50 percent since Republicans became the Senate's majority and cases are increasing at each court.

"Judge Restrepo has strong bipartisan support from his home state senators, Sen. Toomey and Senator [Bob] Casey," Leahy said.

"At Judge Restrepo's hearing, Sen. Toomey stated that 'there is no question [Restrepo] is a very well qualified candidate to serve on the Third Circuit' and underscored the fact that he recommended that the president nominate Judge Restrepo.

"Although there is an urgent need to fill the emergency vacancy on the Third Circuit, the Republican leadership has refused to hold a confirmation vote. All Democrats support this nominee. I hope Senator Toomey will seek a firm commitment from his Republican leadership to schedule a vote this week for Judge Restrepo."

Obama had also nominated a Latina, Kara Farnandez Stoll, for the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the same day as Restrepo's nomination. Stoll also experienced delays as the Judiciary Committee approved her four months after Obama's nomination announcement, in April, and the Senate officially confirmed her on July 7.

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