[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 136 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S11312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




NOMINATION OF SONIA SOTOMAYOR, OF NEW YORK, TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT 
                      JUDGE FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the Senate has just passed an enormous 
milestone in the composition of the American judiciary with the 
confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the appointment to the second 
circuit court of appeals. It is a fine day for New York, I might say 
specifically for the Bronx, a fine day for the judiciary.
  I thank our distinguished Judiciary Committee chairman, Senator 
Hatch, Senator Leahy, and the majority leader, Mr. Lott, and his 
colleague, Mr. Daschle, and, of course, my colleague, Senator D'Amato.
  It was 7 years ago in March that I had the honor to nominate Sonia 
Sotomayor to serve on the southern district of New York. President Bush 
placed her name in nomination, and she was sworn in directly on October 
1992. Her subsequent experience on the bench has been admirable. In 
5\1/2\ years, she has presided over 500 cases and has been overturned 
only 6 times. She has presided over cases of enormous complexity with 
skill and confidence that would befit the editor of the Yale Law 
Journal and a person who rose from the most simple circumstances in 
south Bronx to the eminence she is now assured.
  I thank the Senate, I thank all those involved, and I thank, not 
least, my friend from Arkansas for yielding me this time.

                          ____________________