[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 26 (Thursday, March 10, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
 STATEMENT ON THE NOMINATION OF CAMERON CURRIE FOR U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE 
                           IN SOUTH CAROLINA

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, when I recommended Cameron Currie for 
U.S. District Judge in South Carolina, I was keenly aware that this was 
my first opportunity to fill a judgeship in more than a dozen years. I 
made the most of that opportunity. Simply, put, Cam Currie has the most 
outstanding record of any man or woman in legal practice in South 
Carolina today. Period.
  Cam received her undergraduate degree in 1970 from the University of 
South Carolina and her law degree in 1975 from George Washington 
University's National Law Center. But, as a lawyer, Cam got her real 
education in the best possible place: in the crucible of the courtroom, 
on the proving ground of daily litigation before judge and jury. In the 
course of a rich and varied career spanning two decades, Cam has seen 
it all: from major drug prosecutions to capital murder cases to 
employment discrimination.
  While still in law school, Cam clerked for Arthur L. Burnett, U.S. 
Magistrate at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 
After graduation, from 1975 to 1978, she was an associate in the 
litigation section of the Washington firm, Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin 
& Kahn.
  In 1978, she was appointed an Assistant U.S. Attorney here in the 
District of Columbia. In 1980, she moved to Columbia, South Carolina to 
become an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina. 
It was in this role that she was cocounsel for the Federal Government 
in the case of United States v. State of South Carolina, which was 
brought to compel the South Carolina Highway Patrol to hire women 
troopers; the case resulted in a consent decree under which the State 
agreed to begin hiring women.

  In 1984 Cam was appointed the first woman U.S. Magistrate in South 
Carolina history. Five years later, in 1989, South Carolina Attorney 
General Travis Medlock tapped her to serve as Chief Deputy Attorney 
General.
  In that capacity, Cam has also been Director of the State Grand Jury 
since its inception in 1989. From the outset, Cam has been the driving 
force behind this new institution: she got it organized, she runs its 
day-to-day operations, and she has established the State Grand Jury as 
the scourge of drug traffickers and government corruption in South 
Carolina. After 4 years, the State Grand Jury is recognized by the 
Justice Department as a national model. Cam has won a 94 percent 
conviction rate, and built a reputation for integrity, toughness and 
relentlessness.
  Mr. President, Cam Currie has a distinguished legal pedigree. Her 
grandfather was an attorney in Florence, SC, as is her father. The 
nomination of Cam Currie is a real triumph of our Nation's judicial 
system: it is a triumph that the President would nominate a woman of 
this caliber and accomplishment; and it is a triumph that an attorney 
of Cam's exceptional quality is willing and eager to devote herself to 
a career in public service. I urge that her nomination be confirmed by 
the Senate.

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