[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 17, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14748-S14749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume legislative session.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, the two nominees who have been 
confirmed, Ronald Gould for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and 
Barbara Lynn, U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Texas, 
have indeed received august, important lifetime appointments. Federal 
judgeships are great offices. The persons who receive them are 
committed to a lifetime of dedication to law. They must conduct 
themselves with the highest degree of professionalism and integrity. We 
believe both of those nominees will meet that standard. I am pleased 
this could be concluded tonight.
  With regard to Mr. Gould, I want to share these thoughts. He is a 
most capable man who has overcome personal adversity to reach the 
position to which he has been confirmed this evening. He has achieved a 
reputation as an excellent lawyer and as a person who is respected 
throughout his area of the country, for both his legal skills, and for 
his commitment to voluntarism within his community, as evidenced by his 
continuing service with the Boy Scouts of America. I am proud for him 
tonight. However, I have supported his nomination with some concern, 
not because of anything he has done, but because of my concern about 
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
  Over the past 20 years, the Ninth Circuit has established a 
reputation as an extremely activist circuit. It is a large and 
important circuit, covering over 20 percent of the American population, 
and I believe that it is a circuit that we have a responsibility in 
this body to do something about. A couple of years ago, 28 cases from 
this Circuit were reviewed by the Supreme Court; 27 were reversed. Over 
the last several years, the Ninth Circuit has had by far the highest 
reversal rate of any circuit in the country. They have been an 
extremely liberal, activist circuit that has consistently gone too far 
in protecting the rights of criminals, and is far too quick to find 
that legislative acts or referendums have violated the Constitution. 
That is a fact without dispute by many legal scholars in this country. 
Indeed, the New York Times recently wrote that a majority of the U.S. 
Supreme Court considers the Ninth Circuit to be a rogue circuit.
  My sole concern about Mr. Gould's nomination is that I don't believe 
his appointment and confirmation, by itself, will cause any significant 
movement of that circuit back to the mainstream of American law. We 
want to confirm the nominees the President gives the Senate when they 
are men and women of demonstrated integrity and ability, and when their 
records and backgrounds indicate that they have the ability to adhere 
to the law, to follow Supreme Court rulings, to follow the 
Constitution, to follow laws passed by the people through their elected 
representatives, and to recognize that it is not their function as 
judges to make law.
  I have concluded that Mr. Gould's confirmation should go forward 
today because I think he has demonstrated that he recognizes his proper 
role as a federal judge, and I have not held up his nomination, as any 
Senator would have a right to do. However, there are other nominees 
pending for this circuit who I believe have a record of activism that, 
in my view, does not warrant their confirmation, particularly to a 
circuit that is already known to be an activist circuit.
  I wanted to share those remarks because I wanted to state for the 
record that this Senate has been very cooperative with the President's 
desire to get his nominations confirmed, as evidenced by the fact that 
there have been over 325 Federal judges nominated to this body and 
confirmed. Only one judge has been rejected, and very few have been 
held up for any length of time. Those that have been held up are the 
judges with whom many Senators have some serious concerns. Most judges, 
however, are moving along in a prompt and efficient manner.
  Comments and complaints to the contrary notwithstanding, this Senate 
has a constitutional duty to advise and consent with the President on 
any nomination to the Federal courts, and we have a duty and a 
responsibility to make sure that each and every circuit judge in this 
country understands what the supreme law of the land is, and that 
circuit judges should respect the prerogatives of the people through

[[Page S14749]]

their elected representatives to pass laws which the judges are 
required to enforce, whether the judges personally like them or not. We 
need to make sure our circuits, and every Federal judge we see, are 
consistent with that view and follow that script.

  Mr. Gould is a capable attorney, an Eagle Scout, and a man of great 
personal integrity, it appears. He will soon assume a position on the 
U.S. Circuit Court for the Ninth Circuit. It is a great honor, and I 
congratulate him for it.

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