[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 133 (Tuesday, October 5, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11918-S11920]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     Nomination of Ronnie L. White

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the hour of 2:15 
having arrived, the Senate will now go into executive session and 
proceed to the vote on Executive Calendar Nos. 172, 215 and 209 which 
the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Ronnie L. White, of 
Missouri, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District 
of Missouri.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order 
to ask for the yeas and nays on each nomination with one showing of 
hands.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. HATCH. I now ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to 
be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Ronnie L. White, of Missouri, to be United 
States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri? On this 
question, the yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the 
roll.
  The legislative assistant called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Florida (Mr. Mack) is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 45, nays 54, as follows:

[[Page S11919]]

                      (Rollcall Vote No. 307 Ex.)

                                YEAS--45

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Byrd
     Cleland
     Conrad
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Mikulski
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Torricelli
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--54

     Abraham
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeWine
     Domenici
     Enzi
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Roberts
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Voinovich
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Mack
       
  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. CRAIG. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to continue for 1 
minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have to say this with my colleagues 
present. When the full history of Senate treatment of the nomination of 
Justice Ronnie White is understood, when the switches and politics that 
drove the Republican side of the aisle are known, the people of 
Missouri and the people of the United States will have to judge whether 
the Senate was unfair to this fine man and whether their votes served 
the interests of justice and the Federal courts.
  I am hoping--and every Senator will have to ask himself or herself 
this question--the United States has not reverted to a time in its 
history when there was a color test on nominations.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I use leader time for 1 minute in response.
  With regard to nominations, judicial or otherwise, I am sure the 
Senate would never use any basis for a vote other than the 
qualifications and the record of the nominee. And just so the record 
will be complete, as a matter of fact, of the 19 nominees who have been 
confirmed this year, 4 of them have been women, 1 of them African 
American, and 3 of them have been Hispanic. Their records and the kind 
of judges these men and women would make are the only things that have 
been a factor with the Senate and are the only things that should ever 
be a factor.
  I ask unanimous consent that the remaining votes in the series be 
limited to 10 minutes each.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I rise to express how saddened I am by 
the party-line vote against Judge Ronnie White today. I had sincerely 
hoped that today would mark the beginning of a bipartisan attempt to 
clear the backlog of federal judicial nominees and begin to fill the 
vacancies that are rampant throughout the federal judiciary. I was 
mistaken. Instead, we got a party-line vote against a qualified 
minority judge coupled with a continued refusal to schedule votes on 
other qualified minority and women nominees.
  Judge White is eminently qualified to sit on the federal bench. He is 
a distinguished jurist and the first African-American to serve on the 
Missouri Supreme Court. Prior to his service on Missouri's Supreme 
Court, Judge White served as a State Representative to the Missouri 
Legislature, where he chaired the Judiciary Committee. In his law 
practice, which he continued during his service as a legislator, White 
handled a variety of civil and criminal matters for mostly low income 
individuals. His nomination received the support of the St. Louis 
Metropolitan Police Department, the Saint Louis Post Dispatch, and the 
National Bar Association. He is a fine man who has given his life to 
public service and he deserved better than what he got from this 
Senate. He deserved better than to be kept waiting 27 months for a 
vote, and then to be used as a political pawn.
  This vote wasn't about the death penalty. This vote wasn't about law 
and order. This vote was about the unfair treatment of minority 
judicial nominees. This vote tells minority judicial candidates ``do 
not apply.'' And if you do, you will wait and wait, with no guarantee 
of fairness.
  Judge Marsha Berzon, for instance, has been kept waiting more than 20 
months for a vote. Judge Richard Paez has been waiting more than 44 
months. These nominees deserve a vote. While I am totally dismayed by 
what happened here today with respect to Judge White's nomination, the 
Senate today functioned, albeit in a partisan, political manner.
  As Chief Justice Rehnquist has recognized: ``The Senate is surely 
under no obligation to confirm any particular nominee, but after the 
necessary time for inquiry it should vote him up or vote him down.'' An 
up-or-down vote, that is all we ask for Berzon and Paez. And, after 
years of waiting, they deserve at least that much. The Republican 
majority should not be allowed to cherry-pick among nominees, allowing 
some to be confirmed in weeks, while letting other nominations languish 
for years. Accordingly, I vow today, that we Democrats just will not 
allow Paez and Berzon to be forgotten.
  As I have in the past, I will again move to proceed to the 
nominations of Judge Paez and Marsha Berzon, and I intend to take this 
action again and again should unnamed Senators continue to block a 
vote. Particularly after today's vote, I must say, I find it simply 
baffling that a Senator would vote against even voting on a judicial 
nomination. Today's actions prove that we all understand that we have a 
constitutional outlet for antipathy against a judicial nominee--a vote 
against that nominee. What the Constitution does not contemplate is for 
one or two Senators to grind a nomination to a halt on the basis of a 
``secret'' hold. This cowardly, obstructionist tactic is an anathema to 
the traditions of the Senate. Thus, today, I implore, one more time, 
every Senator to follow Senator Leahy's advice, and treat every nominee 
``with dignity and dispatch.'' Lift your holds, and let the Senate vote 
on every nomination.
  The business of judges is the simple but overwhelmingly important 
business of providing equal justice to the poor and to the rich. 
Accordingly, the consequences of this confirmation process are awesome. 
It is time that we all take it more seriously and it is time that we 
schedule votes on every nominee on the Calendar--including Judge Paez 
and Marsha Berzon. All we are asking of our Republican colleagues is to 
give these nominees the vote--and hopefully the fair consideration--
they deserve. We will press this issue every day and at every 
opportunity until they get that vote.
  Today is a dark day for the Senate. We have voted down a fully-
qualified nominee but I hope we can do better in the future and that we 
can move forward on the Paez and Berzon nominations in a fair and non-
partisan manner.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Clerk will report the next nomination, 
Calendar No. 215.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Brian Theadore Stewart, 
of Utah, to be United States District Judge for the District of Utah.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Brian Theadore Stewart, of Utah, to be 
United States District Judge for the District of Utah? On this 
question, the yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the 
roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Florida (Mr. Mack) is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Baucus) is 
necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 93, nays 5, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 308 Ex.]

                                YEAS--93

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond

[[Page S11920]]


     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                                NAYS--5

     Boxer
     Feingold
     Johnson
     Mikulski
     Wellstone

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Baucus
     Mack
       
  The nomination was confirmed.


                    nomination of raymond c. fisher

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Crapo). The clerk will report the next 
nomination.
  The legislative assistant read the nomination of Raymond C. Fisher, 
of California, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Raymond C. Fisher, of California, to be 
United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit. The yeas and nays 
have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Florida (Mr. Mack) is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Baucus) is 
necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 69, nays 29, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 309 Ex.]

                                YEAS--69

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Ashcroft
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Byrd
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Grassley
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     McCain
     Mikulski
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--29

     Allard
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Campbell
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Enzi
     Gramm
     Grams
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Lott
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Roberts
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Baucus
     Mack
       
  The nomination was confirmed.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to congratulate Ray Fisher on his 
Senate confirmation. I will miss Ray and Nancy here in Washington, but 
know that the Ninth Circuit will greatly benefit from his service 
there.
  Finally, I congratulate Ted Stewart on his confirmation and Senators 
Hatch and Bennett, who have worked hard to get him confirmed 
expeditiously. I trust that Mr. Stewart will honor the commitments that 
he made to the Judiciary Committee to avoid even the appearance of 
impropriety on matters on which he has worked while in State 
government.
  I said on the Senate floor last night that this body's recent 
treatment of women and minority judicial nominees is a badge of shame. 
I feel that we added to that shame with today's vote of Justice Ronnie 
White.
  In their report entitled ``Justice Held Hostage,'' the bipartisan 
Task Force on Federal Judicial Selection from Citizens for Independent 
Courts, co-chaired by Mickey Edwards and Lloyd Cutler, substantiated 
through their independent analysis what I have been saying for some 
time: Women and minority judicial nominations are treated differently 
by this Senate and take longer, are less likely to be voted on and less 
likely to be confirmed.
  Judge Richard Paez has been stalled for 44 months, and the nomination 
of Marsha Berzon has been pending for 20 months. Other nominees are 
confirmed in 2 months.
  Anonymous Republican Senators continue their secret holds on the Paez 
and Berzon nominations. The Republican majority refuses to vote on 
those nominations. In fairness, after almost 2 years and almost 4 
years, Marsha Berzon and Judge Richard Paez are entitled to a Senate 
vote on their nominations. Vote them up or vote them down, but vote. 
That is what I have been saying, that is what the Chief Justice 
challenged the Republican Senate to do back in January 1998.
  I can assure you that there is no Democratic Senator with a hold on 
Judge Paez or Marsha Berzon. I can assure you that every Democratic 
Senator is willing to go forward with votes on Judge Paez and Marsha 
Berzon now, without delay.
  Last Friday, Senator Lott committed to trying to ``find a way'' to 
have these nominations considered by the Senate. I want to help him do 
that.

                          ____________________