[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 64 (Thursday, May 15, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4516-S4517]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, yesterday Mr. Leahy and several of my 
colleagues spoke about judicial confirmations. Let me make a few 
additional points. First, we are experiencing a record slowdown in 
confirming judges. Last year, only 17 Federal judges were confirmed, 
and not a single judge for a court of appeals. This year, the process 
has gotten even worse--only two judges have been confirmed, and the 
year is almost half over. Indeed, at our current pace, with only 5 
judges likely to be confirmed a year, and an average of more than 50 
retiring, we would have no federal judges at all in 20 years. 
Literally, an empty bench.
  Second, we need these judges, both to prosecute and sentence violent 
criminals and to prevent more backlogs in civil cases. This is about 
justice--it shouldn't be about politics. Don't take my word on this, 
ask Chief Justice Rehnquist. He says ``filling judicial vacancies is 
crucial to the fair and effective administration of justice.'' Chief 
Justice Rehnquist is right.
  Or ask Judge George Kazen from the Southern District of Texas. He is 
the subject of a front page article in today's Washington Post with the 
headline ``Cases Pile Up as Judgeships Remain Vacant.'' He is hearing a 
dramatic increase in criminal cases now

[[Page S4517]]

because we're cracking down on illegal immigration and drug smuggling 
in his border district. He desperately wants and needs help. But we 
haven't helped. Instead, the Senate has held up a nominee for his 
district for almost 2 years. I ask unanimous consent to print this 
article in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (see exhibit 1.)
  Mr. President, third, inaction now can only make matters worse. If we 
don't start moving judges, some Senators might feel compelled to put a 
hold on all other legislative business. Or the President could be 
forced to make recess appointments to the Federal bench. Of course, no 
one wants either of these things, including me. But if we don't confirm 
nominees through the normal process, I am afraid this is what could 
happen.
  Mr. President, let's breathe life back into the confirmation process. 
Let's vote on the nominees who already have been approved by the 
Judiciary Committee, and let's set a timetable for future hearings on 
pending judges. Let's fulfill our constitutional responsibilities; 
justice demands that at a minimum. I thank you, and I yield the floor.

                               Exhibit 1

                [From the Washington Post, May 15, 1997]

               Cases Pile Up as Judgeships Remain Vacant

                         (By Sue Anne Pressley)

       Laredo, TX.--The drug and illegal immigrant cases keep 
     coming. No sooner does Chief U.S. District Judge George Kazen 
     clear one case than a stack of new cases piles up. He takes 
     work home at night, on weekends.
       ``It's like a tidal wave,'' Kazen said recently. ``As soon 
     as I finish 25 cases per month, the next 25 are on top of me 
     and then you've got the sentence reports you did two months 
     before. There is no stop, no break at all, year in and year 
     out, here they come.
       ``We've already got more than we can say grace over down 
     here,'' he said.
       This is what happens to a federal judge on the southern 
     border of the United States when Washington cracks down on 
     illegal immigration and drug smuggling. It is a situation 
     much aggravated by the fact that the Senate in Washington has 
     left another federal judgeship in this district vacant for 
     two years, one of 72 vacancies on federal district courts 
     around the country.
       As Border Patrol officers and other federal agents swarm 
     this southernmost region of Texas along the Mexican border in 
     ever-increasing numbers, Judge Kazen's docket has grown and 
     grown. He has suggested, so far unsuccessfully, that a 
     judgeship in Houston be reassigned to the Rio Grande Valley 
     to help cope.
       In Washington, where the laws and policies were adopted 
     that has made Kazen's life so difficult, the Senate has made 
     confirmation of federal judges a tedious process, often 
     fraught with partisan politics. In addition to the 72 federal 
     district court vacancies (the trial level), there are 25 
     circuit court vacancies (the appellate level) and two vacant 
     international trade court judgeships across the country, 
     leaving unfilled 99 positions, or 11 percent of the federal 
     judiciary. Twenty-six nominations from President Clinton are 
     pending, according to Jeanne Lopatto, spokeswoman for the 
     Senate Judiciary Committee, which considers nominations for 
     recommendation to the full Senate for confirmation.
       Of those 99 vacancies, 24 qualify as judicial emergencies, 
     meaning the positions have been vacant more than 18 months, 
     according to David Sellers of the Administrative Office of 
     the U.S. Courts. Two of the emergencies exit in Texas, 
     including the one in Kazen's southern district.
       Lopatto said the thorough investigation of each nominee is 
     a time-consuming process. But political observes say 
     Republicans, who run the Senate, are in no hurry to approve 
     candidates submitted by a Democratic president. The pinch is 
     particularly painful here in border towns. The nominee for 
     Brownsville, in Kazen's district, has been awaiting approval 
     since 1995. Here in Laredo, Kazen's criminal docket has 
     increased more than 20 percent over last year.
       ``We have a docket,'' he said, ``that can be tripled 
     probably at the drop of a hat. * * * The Border Patrol 
     people, the Customs people at the [international] bridges 
     will tell you, they don't catch a tenth of who is going 
     through. The more checkpoints you man, the more troops you 
     have at the bridges, will necessarily mean more stops and 
     more busts.''
       And many more arrests are expected, the result of an 
     unprecedented focus on policing the U.S.-Mexico border. 
     Earlier this year, Clinton unveiled a $367 million program 
     for the Southwest for fiscal 1998, beginning Oct. 1, that 
     includes hiring 500 new Border Patrol agents, 277 inspectors 
     for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 96 Drug 
     Enforcement Administration agents and 70 FBI agents.
       In Kazen's territory, the number of Border Patrol agents 
     already has swollen dramatically, from 347 officers assigned 
     to the Laredo area in fiscal 1993 to 411 officers in 
     fiscal 1996. More tellingly, in 1993, agents in the Laredo 
     sector arrested more than 82,000 people on cocaine, 
     marijuana and illegal immigration charges. By 1996, 
     arrests had soared to nearly 132,000, according to data 
     supplied by the INS.
       All of which is keeping Kazen and the other judges here 
     hopping. ``I don't know what the answer is,'' said U.S. 
     District Judge John Rainey, who has been acting as ``a 
     circuit rider'' as he tries to keep Kazen out in Laredo from 
     his post in Victoria, Tex. ``I certainly don't see it easing 
     up anytime soon. There still seems to be such a demand for 
     drugs in this country, and that's what causes people to bring 
     them in. Until society changes, we won't see any changes down 
     here.''
       In a letter to Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez (D-Tex.) in February, 
     Kazen outlined the need for a new judge in the Laredo or 
     McAllen division, rather than in Houston, where a vacancy was 
     recently created when then-Chief Judge Norman Black assumed 
     senior status. ``The `border' divisions of our court--
     Brownsville, McAllen and Laredo--have long borne the burden 
     of one of the heaviest criminal dockets in the country, and 
     the processing of criminal cases involves special pressures, 
     including those generated by the Speedy Trial Act,'' he 
     wrote.
       On a recent typical day, Kazen said, he sentenced six 
     people on drug charges and listened to an immigration case. 
     His cases tend to involve marijuana more often than cocaine, 
     he said.
       ``The border is a transshipment area,'' he said. ``The fact 
     is, a huge amount of contraband somehow crosses the Texas-
     Mexican border, people walking through where the river is 
     low, and there are hundreds and hundreds of miles of 
     unpatrolled ranchland.
       ``In some cases,'' Kazen continued, ``we're seeing a 
     difference in the kind of defendant. We're almost never 
     seeing the big shots--we're seeing the soldiers. Once in a 
     while, we'll see a little bigger fish, but we're dealing with 
     very, very smart people. We see some mom-and-pop stuff, too. 
     There was a guy who came before me who had been in the Army 
     umpteen years, and he needed the money, he was going 
     bankrupt, so he did this 600-pound marijuana deal. He said he 
     stood to pick up $50,000, and now he's facing five to 40 
     years.
       ``We see kids 18 and 19 years old,'' Kazen said. ``We see 
     pregnant women. We see disabled people in wheel-chairs. This 
     is very, very tempting stuff.'' In Washington, the argument 
     over court vacancies continues. On April 30, Attorney General 
     Janet Reno told the Judiciary Committee, ``Chief judges are 
     calling my staff to report the prospect of canceling court 
     sittings and suspending civil calendars for lack of judges, 
     and to ask when they can expect help. This committee must act 
     now to send this desperately needed help.''
       In remarks yesterday to the Federal Judges Association 
     meeting in Washington, Reno warned that ``the number [of 
     vacancies] is growing.''
       ``As you are no doubt aware,'' Reno told the judges, ``the 
     level of contentiousness on the issue of filling judicial 
     vacancies has unfortunately increased in recent times.''

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