[Senate Hearing 107-259]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 107-259
NOMINATION OF ODESSA F. VINCENT
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON THE
NOMINATION OF ODESSA F. VINCENT TO BE AN ASSOCIATE JUDGE OF THE
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
__________
NOVEMBER 6, 2001
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
77-435 WASHINGTON : 2002
_____________________________________________________________________________
For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512-1800
Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan FRED THOMPSON, Tennessee
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TED STEVENS, Alaska
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MAX CLELAND, Georgia PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi
JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah
MARK DAYTON, Minnesota JIM BUNNING, Kentucky
Joyce A. Rechtschaffen, Staff Director and Counsel
Cynthia Gooen Lessen, Counsel
Jason M. Yanussi, Professional Staff Member
Marianne Clifford Upton, Staff Director and Chief Counsel, Subcommittee
on
Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of
Columbia
Hannah S. Sistare, Minority Staff Director and Counsel
Johanna, L. Hardy, Minority Counsel
Mason C. Alinger, Minority Professional Staff Member, Subcommittee on
Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of
Columbia
Darla D. Cassell, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
------
Opening statement:
Page
Senator Durbin............................................... 1
WITNESSES
Tuesday, November 6, 2001
Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Delegate in Congress from the
District of Columbia........................................... 1
Odessa F. Vincent to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court
of the District of Columbia.................................... 2
Biographical and financial information....................... 5
NOMINATION OF ODESSA F. VINCENT TO BE AN ASSOCIATE JUDGE OF THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUPERIOR COURT
----------
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2001
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:48 p.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard J.
Durbin, presiding.
Present: Senator Durbin.
Senator Durbin. The Committee on Governmental Affairs will
come to order. Good afternoon and welcome. Today, the Senate
Committee on Governmental Affairs holds a hearing to consider
the nomination of Odessa F. Vincent to be an associate judge in
the District of Columbia Superior Court.
On May 24, President Bush nominated Odessa F. Vincent to
fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Evelyn Queen.
Ms. Vincent is currently the chief of the narcotics section of
the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia. She has
been a supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney since 1995. Her
prior experience includes work as a trial attorney on the
National Church Arson Task Force, and attorney advisor to the
Drug Enforcement Administration. She is a 1984 graduate of
Howard University School of Law.
I am certain this is a very special day for you, Ms.
Vincent, as you contemplate this next step in your legal
career. Do you have any family members or colleagues or friends
which you would like to introduce at this point?
Ms. Vincent. Yes, Senator, I do. I do have colleagues and
friends that are here with me. Patricia Smoot, Ann Rosenfield,
Betty Goldman, and Steve and Carol Wilkinson.
Senator Durbin. I thank them for joining us, too, and
showing encouragement for this important day in your life.
At this point I would also like to welcome my friend,
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia
who is here to offer a few words of introduction on behalf of
Ms. Vincent. Congresswoman Norton, please proceed.
TESTIMONY OF HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, A DELEGATE IN CONGRESS
FROM THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Ms. Norton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. We have
pressed you into service for yet another D.C. matter and I
appreciate your work on this nomination. I am very pleased to
introduce to you, Odessa Vincent. Ms. Vincent is essentially a
career U.S. Attorney, a career trial attorney, which is perhaps
the best preparation for becoming a trial judge in our D.C.
Superior Court. Very well prepared to become a member of the
court.
Ms. Vincent has spent most of her career as an Assistant
U.S. Attorney, rising to be chief of the narcotics section of
the office of the U.S. Attorney here in the District of
Columbia. Her specialty in drug matters was such that she was
detailed for a couple of years to the Drug Enforcement
Administration office, rising there to be chief of the criminal
law section. Concurrent with her duties in the Justice
Department at the Drug Enforcement Administration she served as
a trial attorney with the National Church Arson Task Force
which was specially created to deal with the arsons of churches
and religious properties.
We are not only proud of Ms. Vincent's distinguished career
and excellent preparation for the bench, we are especially
proud that she is a graduate of our own State university, the
University of the District of Columbia, and of Howard
University in 1984. I am very pleased to recommend her to you,
Mr. Chairman.
Senator Durbin. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Norton.
It is the custom and the tradition in this Committee for us
to swear in our witnesses, Ms. Vincent. If you would be kind
enough to rise and raise your right hand? Do you swear that the
testimony you are about to give is the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help you, God?
Ms. Vincent. I do.
Senator Durbin. Thank you. Let the record reflect that the
witness answered in the affirmative. If you have any opening
remarks, I invite you to make them at this point in time.
TESTIMONY OF ODESSA F. VINCENT\1\ TO BE AN ASSOCIATE JUDGE OF
THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Ms. Vincent. Thank you. Just briefly, I would like to say
that I am honored to be here testifying today. I would like to
thank the President for nominating me to be an associate judge
of the Superior Court. I would like to thank you, Senator, for
having this hearing, and the Committee for moving this matter
forward. I can only say that for me this is just a very great
honor and I hope, if it should pass, that I can serve well for
the citizens of the District.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Biographical and financial information appears in the Appendix
on page 5.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senator Durbin. Thank you. You have been recommended not
only by the President, which is high praise, but also by the
District's judicial nominating committee, and gone through the
customary investigation. Since your nomination was received in
the Senate you have completed a thorough biographical
questionnaire, which may have been one of the most daunting
assignments since your law exam that we all considered many
years ago. The Committee staff has conducted background checks
and interviewed you, and I have reviewed your responses to the
questionnaire.
I am going to ask you three standard questions that are
part of this process. First, is there anything that you are
aware of in your background that might present a conflict of
interest with the duties of the office to which you have been
nominated?
Ms. Vincent. No.
Senator Durbin. Second, do you know of any reason, personal
or otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and
honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to
which you have been nominated?
Ms. Vincent. No.
Senator Durbin. Third, do you know of any reason, personal
or otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from serving
the full term for the office to which you have been nominated?
Ms. Vincent. No.
Senator Durbin. I once observed at an earlier hearing when
we were filling a vacancy in the District of Columbia that this
is a long term that you are being appointed to, and of course,
since we only have 6-year terms, we are very envious here on
Capitol Hill. But I also recall many years ago when I was in
private practice that there were certain judges who were a joy
to appear before and some who were not. I felt that there was a
difference in temperament in some judges rather than others. I
wonder if you could comment on what you consider to be the
temperament of a judge that we should look for in making this
appointment?
Ms. Vincent. Senator, I think you want to look for a judge
who is always well prepared, who is familiar with the cases
that will come before him or her, and that is, as much as a
judge can be, familiar with the parties and the litigants. I
think it helps a judge to move his or her calendar forward more
expeditiously if they are completely in sync with what is going
on in their courtroom. An intelligent, well-prepared judge, I
think, is the best kind of judge that you could appoint.
Senator Durbin. Now I would like to address the issue of
humility, because many who ascend to the bench think they are
ascending even higher in life. I wonder if you would comment on
that aspect of judicial temperament.
Ms. Vincent. Senator, all I can say to you is that I am
completely humbled by this experience. The judges that I have
known, a number of judges that sit on the Superior Court I have
known before they got to the Superior Court bench and I can
only say that they take their responsibility, as would I, very
seriously and realize that how they are perceived by the public
and by the litigants that come before them is very, very
important. They, like I, initially were very humbled and remain
very humbled by the experience.
Senator Durbin. That is a good response. Some of my
colleagues on the Committee who are voting at this moment may
have written questions that they may submit at some later
point, but I do not have any further questions. I want to thank
you for your responses. They were appropriate and encouraging.
I thank your friends and colleagues for joining you today for
this hearing.
The next step in the process will be the prompt
consideration of your nomination at a full Committee markup in
the very near future. With that, this hearing is adjourned.
Ms. Vincent. Thank you.
Senator Durbin. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 2:55 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.001
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.002
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.003
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.004
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.005
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.006
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.007
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.008
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.009
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.010
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.011
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.012
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.013
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.014
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.015
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.016
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.017
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.018
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.019
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7435.020
-