[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 42 (Friday, April 3, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S3237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I thank the Majority Leader for calling up 
the nomination of Ivan Lemelle to the District Court for the Eastern 
District of Louisiana.
  Judge Lemelle's nomination has been pending over a year. When the 
Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Louisiana testified in May 1996 
that the vacancies on that Court should not be filled, it put this 
nomination on hold. I only wish that when the Chief Justice of the 
United States says that we need more judges, when Chief Judges in the 
Second Circuit and other Circuits and Districts say that they need 
their vacancies filled without further delay, we would listen to them.
  Judge Sear has recently written a letter to Senator Breaux that 
reports that his Court now unanimously votes to fill the two vacancies 
in that District. I know that as a Magistrate Judge Ivan Lemelle has 
already contributed to the administration of justice in that District. 
It is high time to provide him the opportunity to contribute more fully 
to handling the District's caseload.
  I congratulate and thank Senator Breaux and Senator Landrieu for 
their effective advocacy in support of this nomination.
  Before adjourning for a two-week recess, it is important for the 
Senate to clear its calendar of nominations to the maximum extent 
possible. We made some progress today. I have been urging the Majority 
Leader to move judicial nominations through the Senate and I thank him 
for moving Judge Lemelle.
  As the Senate recesses, seven judicial nominations still remain on 
the calendar awaiting Senate action. With this additional confirmation, 
the Senate will still have confirmed only 20 judges for the year in 
which the Federal courts have experienced 100 vacancies. So, while I 
thank the Senate for its actions today, I must note that we have not 
ended the crisis of which the Chief Justice of the United States 
Supreme Court warned in his most recent year end report.
  Most troubling to me are the continuing vacancies on the Second 
Circuit. I deeply regret the Senate's unwillingness to vote upon the 
nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Second Circuit or to provide 
hearings for Judge Rosemary Pooler, Robert Sack and Chester Straub. I 
look forward to action on these and the other judicial nominees left 
pending before the Senate.

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