[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 8, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1286-S1288]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, as one of the two California Senators, 
this is a very big day for two Californians who have been nominated for 
the Ninth Circuit Court: In the case of Richard Paez, more than 4 years 
ago, the longest time anyone has had to wait for a vote in a 100-year 
history; and Marsha Berzon, nominated a couple of years ago.
  I am grateful we have gotten to this day. I am very hopeful. In 
fairness, our colleagues from both sides of the aisle will make a 
statement on this cloture vote, if we have to have a cloture vote, that 
they do deserve an up-or-down vote.
  I will attempt in the next few minutes to put a face on the 
nominations. I had about 5 minutes to speak yesterday and will take a 
little bit longer today.
  I will introduce Marsha Berzon, who is a stellar attorney. She is 
shown with her husband and her two children. This is a wonderful woman. 
The whole family has been so excited about her nomination, but every 
time we think we will have a vote, we don't seem to get there.
  I say to Marsha and her family: We will have a vote and I am 
optimistic you are going to be seated on this bench.
  Marsha Berzon is exquisitely qualified, as is Richard Paez. She is a 
native of Ohio. She was raised in New York. She now lives in 
California, is married to Stephen Berzon, shown here. She practices law 
with her husband and is a mom of two youngsters.
  She was first nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth 
Circuit in January of 1998, and she testified before the Senate 
Judiciary Committee in July of 1998. There was no action on her 
nomination in the 105th Congress, so her nomination was sent back and 
she testified on June 16, 1999. Then she was favorably reported out of 
the committee.
  We are very hopeful since the committee considered her to be very 
well qualified that the Senate will agree.
  Let me give a few of her qualifications. She is a nationally known 
and extremely well-regarded appellate litigator. She is a graduate of 
Harvard/Radcliffe College and Boalt Hall University of Law. She served 
as a law clerk for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge James 
Browning, and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan. She has 
argued four cases in the Supreme Court of the United States and filed 
dozens of briefs in the Court in a wide variety of cases. She is 
praised broadly not only by those whom she had as clients, but more 
telling, I think, she is praised by the people she opposed, people on 
the other side of the case. People of both political parties have 
praised Marsha.
  I could go on with the extensive quotations of the high regard she is 
held in, but they were printed in the Record yesterday.
  She is supported by Senator Hatch. He is also supporting Richard 
Paez. Arlen Specter is very strongly in favor of her. She is supported 
by former Republican Senator James McClure of Idaho. She has the 
support of Paul Haerle, Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals, 
First Appellate District in California, who is the former chair of the 
California Republican Party and a former point secretary to then-
Governor and then-President Ronald Reagan.
  She has tremendous support from law enforcement: From the president 
of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association; from Arthur 
Reddy, International Union of Police Associations; Robert Scully, the 
National Association of Police Organizations; from William Sieber, 
president of the Los Angeles Professional Peace Officers Association. 
She has a huge amount of support in the business community which I 
think is important to those on both sides of the aisle.
  I ask unanimous consent to have a list of supporters printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

 Letters of Support for Marsha S. Berzon, Nominee to the Ninth Circuit 
                         U.S. Court of Appeals


                           elected officials

     Arlen Specter, U.S. Senator (R-PA)
     Former Senator James A. McClure (R-ID)


                                 judges

     Paul R. Haerle, Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, First 
         Appellate District, California (former chair Cal. 
         Republican Party, former Appointments Secretary to Gov. 
         Ronald Reagan)
     Michael M. Johnson, Superior Court Judge, Los Angeles


                            law enforcement

     Don Novey, President, California Correctional Peace Officers 
         Association, West Sacramento, CA
     Arthur J. Reddy, International Vice President, Legislative 
         Liaison, International Union of Police Associations AFL-
         CIO, Alexandria, VA
     Robert T. Scully, Executive Director, National Association of 
         Police Organizations, Inc., Washington, DC
     William Sieber, President, Los Angeles County Professional 
         Peace Officers Association, Monterey Park, CA

[[Page S1287]]

                            business leaders

     Lydia Beebe, Chair, Fair Employment and Housing Commission, 
         Corporate Secretary, Chevron Corporation, San Francisco, 
         CA
     William F. Boyd, Vice President, Corporate Counsel and 
         Secretary, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation, Coeur 
         d'Alene, ID
     Dennis C. Cuneo, Vice President, Toyota Motor Manufacturing 
         North America, Inc. Earlanger, KY
     John D. Danforth, Vice President and General Counsel for 
         Creative Labs, Inc., Milpitas, CA
     William D. Ruckelshaus, Madrona Investment Group, L.L.C., 
         Seattle, WA
     Patricia Salas Pineda, Vice President and General Counsel, 
         New United Motor Manufacturing, Fremont, CA
     W. I. Usery, Jr., Bill Usery Associates, Inc., Washington, 
         D.C. (former Rep. Secretary of Labor)


                       law school professor/dean

     Robert A. Hillman, Associate Dean, Cornell Law School, 
         Ithaca, NY
     Theodore J. St. Antoine, Professor of Law, The University of 
         Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, MI


                               attorneys

     James N. Adler, Irell & Manella, CA
     Fred W. Alvarez, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, PC, Palo 
         Alto, CA (former Commissioner of the Equal Employment 
         Opportunity Commission and Former U.S. Assistant 
         Secretary of labor)
     Douglas H. Barton, Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus, Vlahos & Rudy, 
         LLP, Larkspur, CA
     Ronald G. Birch, Birch, Horton, Bittner and Cherot, 
         Washington, D.C.
     Henry C. Cashen, II, Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky, 
         L.L.P., Washington, DC
     Laurence P. Corbett, Point Richmond, CA
     David C. Crosby, Wickwire, Greene, Crosby, Brewer & Steward, 
         Juneau, AK
     Charles G. Curtis, Jr., Foley & Lardner, Madison, WI
     Lynne E. Deitch, Butzel Long, PC, Detroit, MI
     Larry C. Drapkin, Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, CA
     Pamela L. Hermminger, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
     Robert J. Higgins, Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky, 
         L.L.P., Washington, DC
     Judith Droz Keyes, Corbett & Kane, Emeryville, CA
     Edward M. Kovach, Lambos & Junge, San Francisco, CA
     Daniel H. Markstein, III, Maynard, Cooper & Gale, PC, 
         Birmingham, AL
     Anna Segobia Masters, Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May
     John L. Maxey, II, Maxey, Wann & Begley, PLLC, Jackson, MI
     J. Dennis McQuaid, McQuaid, Metzler, McCormick & Van Zandt, 
         L.L.P., San Francisco, CA
     Steven S. Michaels, Debevoise & Plimptom, New York, NY
     Morton H. Orenstein, Schachter, Kristoffr, Orenstein & 
         Berkowitz, San Francisco, CA
     Carter G. Phillips, Sidley & Austin, Washington, DC
     Patricia Phillips, Morrison & Foerster, Los Angeles, CA
     William B. Sailer, Qualcomm
     Stacy D. Shartin, Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson
     Robert A. Siegel, O'Melveny & Myers, Los Angeles, CA
     Ronald G. Skipper, San Bernardino, CA
     Stephen E. Tallent, Washington, DC
     Wendy L. Tice-Wallner, Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff & Tichy, 
         San Francisco, CA

  Mrs. BOXER. In there you will see deans of law schools. You will see 
many attorneys who have come to appreciate Marsha. Again, this is a 
woman who has tremendous support in the community, Republican and 
Democrat; a fine family member. She will be an asset to this court and 
I am very hopeful Marsha will receive the overwhelming vote of this 
body.
  Did my friend have a question? I would say to my friend, he is, I 
know, waiting to speak. I also had to wait quite a while. I am going to 
be about another 15 minutes.
  So today we have this wonderful opportunity, yes, on Marsha, and we 
have an opportunity to say yes to another wonderful nominee, Richard 
Paez. Again, to put a face on it, here is Richard's face. This is a 
wonderful human being. He is a wonderful judge with many years of 
experience on the bench. He is a wonderful family man, married to his 
wife Dianne for quite a while, with two terrific kids. He is very 
involved with his children's lives, involved in their sports and 
academic achievements. He is someone most deserving of this honor I 
hope we are about to bestow upon him.
  Yes, Richard has waited for 4 years. This has been very difficult for 
him. It has been very difficult for his family. But I can only say I am 
not going to look back. I want to look ahead. We are going to have a 
vote, and I am very hopeful we will see the tide turn in his favor. 
Everything I see now leads me to believe that.
  Richard has the support of Senators Hatch and Specter and he just got 
the public support of Senator Domenici. We have a statement from him, 
which will take me just a moment to find. I am very pleased about it.
  Yesterday, Senator Domenici has a statement in the Record. He says:

       I rise today to announce I intend to vote to confirm Judge 
     Richard Paez to the Ninth Circuit. He has waited 4 years. I 
     believe the time has come.

  He says:

       I have reviewed Judge Paez' record, including some of the 
     issues which appear controversial. I am satisfied he has 
     adequately responded to the concerns.

  I will paraphrase. He talks about those concerns. Then he goes on and 
says:

       Mr. President, Judge Paez has earned bipartisan support 
     from a variety of sources.

  He goes through those.
  I called Senator Domenici this morning--I didn't have a chance to 
speak to him because he was at a hearing--to thank him profusely for 
his support. This is a deserving man. I am proud to see Senators from 
the other side stepping up to the plate and supporting him. I think it 
is so important.
  Richard Anthony Paez was born in Salt Lake City, UT, which happens to 
be the hometown of our distinguished chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee. He graduated in 1969 from Brigham Young University and 
received his law degree from Boalt Hall at the University of California 
at Berkeley in 1972.
  For 13 years, he served as municipal court judge. Then he was 
nominated to the district court. He has been in that capacity now for 
about 5\1/2\ years. As the first Mexican American on that district 
bench, he has proven himself to be a role model and a real leader.
  He has won the respect of law enforcement and attorneys who practice 
in his court. They have analyzed his rulings. We have an amazing 
article that I have already had printed in the Record. I wanted to 
refer my colleagues to it. It is from the Daily Journal, a very open, 
bipartisan review of Richard Paez. People from the most liberal to the 
most conservative who looked at Richard's record, Judge Paez's record, 
essentially said his decisions will stand the test of time. His 
opinions are praised as being well reasoned. So I think we know Judge 
Paez will be fair.

  He has received the endorsement of the National Association of Police 
Organizations, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the Los 
Angeles County Police Chiefs' Association, the current district 
attorney, Gil Garcetti, and the late Sheriff Sherman Block of Los 
Angeles, Republican sheriff in Los Angeles. Listen to what the LA 
Police Protective League said:

       . . . he has a reputation for integrity, fairness and 
     objectivity, all qualities we believe essential for a member 
     of the Appellate Court.

  The lawyers who appear before him have praised his skills. Yesterday, 
I read comments from some of them. I will repeat some of these 
comments:

       He is a wonderful judge.
       He's outstanding.
       He rates a 12 or 13 on a scale of 10.

  Another one:

       I don't know anyone here who has not been exceedingly 
     impressed by him.

  Another:

       I think he has great temperament. He never says or does 
     anything that's off.
       He has a very good demeanor. He's very professional. He 
     doesn't have any quirks.

  So it goes on and on. It is a wonderful thing to be supporting Judge 
Paez because I feel I have so many objective people saying so many good 
things about him.
  A law professor who looked at one of the rulings said:

       The opinion is clear, concise, straightforward, logical--

  I think this is important to my colleagues from the other side--

     and provides no indication of the author's personal policy 
     predilections on the issue. . . . [It is] implicitly 
     respectful of the separation of powers among the branches of 
     government.

  Again, we have so many Republicans supporting Richard outside of this 
Chamber and, hopefully, enough inside this Chamber so we can get him 
through. But let me tell you some of those outside the Chamber.
  Sheldon Sloan, a former California judge, former president of the LA 
County Bar, the former head of Governor Pete Wilson's Judicial 
Selection

[[Page S1288]]

Committee--here is the man who picked the judges for Governor Pete 
Wilson--wrote a letter to Chairman Hatch, saying that Judge Paez:

       . . . has performed his duties with distinction and he is 
     held in great esteem by all who worked with him, be the 
     members of the bench or of the Bar.

  He goes on to say:

       Richard Paez is a hard-working, experienced, quality Judge. 
     He can be strong without being overbearing and he can be 
     compassionate without being soft. He has been, and he will 
     continue to be, a credit to the judiciary as a whole.

  The American Bar Association gave Judge Paez the highest rating 
possible.
  When I hear colleagues come over here, and they had every right in 
the world to vote no on this nomination; absolutely. I do not want to 
overstate it, but I would lay down my life for their right to do what 
they think is right. But the one thing with which I take issue is when 
the record is distorted. I do not think it is purposely distorted, but 
Richard has some people who do not want him to be on the bench, and 
they distorted things. We have heard things on the floor; that there 
were games being played in the district court when he got certain 
cases; that Judge Paez is soft on criminals when, in fact, a review 
that was requested by Senator Sessions showed, on the contrary, that 
Judge Paez is tougher than most.
  This shows his downward departures in sentencing--in other words the 
times he has sentenced less than the guidelines--were far fewer than 
the average court. He granted downward departures only 6 percent of the 
time when U.S. district courts granted downward departures 13.6 percent 
of the time. So he has been tough. He has an excellent record on 
criminal appeals. He has not been reversed once on a criminal sentence.
  I feel he has a strong sentencing record. Then, again, when Senator 
Sessions says he gave too easy a sentence to certain people, as Senator 
Specter put in the Record yesterday, he was following what the 
prosecution asked him to do to the letter. He was following what the 
prosecution asked him to do. So if there is any gripe about it, it is 
with the prosecutor. He did what the prosecutor asked.
  So, I ask my colleagues--I would love to ask Senator Hutchinson how 
much time he needs on the floor, and Senator Specter, because I have 
another few minutes, but I would like to accommodate them.
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. I think morning business is for 10 minutes. That is 
what I need, 10 minutes.
  Mrs. BOXER. And my colleague?
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, if I may respond, I spoke in support of 
Judge Paez yesterday. I would like to speak for about 4 minutes on a 
matter, if I could squeeze in here?
  Mrs. BOXER. May I make a suggestion, and may I ask a question? I am 
about to wrap up on Judge Paez and put a number of things in the 
Record. I have a question.
  Mr. President, would it be in order to propound a unanimous consent 
request that Senator Hutchinson be allowed to speak for 10 minutes, 
Senator Specter for 7 minutes, and I will come back for another 10 
minutes so I can give my friends time?
  Mr. SPECTER. Reserving the right to object, is that a unanimous 
consent request?
  Mrs. BOXER. Yes, it is.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, can I persuade my colleague to let me 
have 4 minutes ahead of him?
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Yes.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I revise the request to ask for 4 minutes 
for Senator Specter, 10 minutes for the good Senator from Arkansas who 
has been waiting, and 10 minutes for this Senator. This is after I 
finish my remarks, which will be in a moment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. BOXER. I thank my friends.
  I will conclude about Judge Paez in this fashion. I will have printed 
in the Record the extensive list of his supporters--elected officials, 
both Republican and Democratic, national law enforcement associations, 
California State judges and justices, bar leaders, business leaders, 
community leaders, attorneys, and Hispanic groups. I ask unanimous 
consent that this list be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

Support For the Honorable Richard A. Paez, Nominee to the Ninth Circuit 
                            Court of Appeals


                      california elected officials

     U.S. Representative James E. Rogan, (R-CA 27th)
     Speaker of the California State Assembly Antonio R. 
         Villaraigosa
     Los Angeles County Sheriff, Sherman Block (deceased)
     Los Angeles County District Attorney, Gil Garcetti
     Los Angeles City Attorney, James K. Hahn


            national and local law enforcement organizations

     National Association of Police Organizations, Inc., Executive 
         Director, Robert T. Scully
     Los Angeles Police Protective League Board President, Dave 
         Hepburn
     Los Angeles County Police Chiefs' Ass'n, Endorsement Comm. 
         Chair, Stephen R. Port
     Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, Inc., President 
         Pete Brodie
     Department of California Highway Patrol Commissioner, D.O. 
         Helmick


                  california state justices and judges

     California Court of Appeal Justice H. Walter Croskey
     California Court of Appeal Justice Barton C. Gaut
     California Court of Appeal Justice Paul Turner
     Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria H. Chavez
     Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edward A. Ferns
     Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl
     Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Nash
     Los Angeles Superior Court Judge S. James Otero
     Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White


             bar leaders/business leaders/community leaders

     Former California Judge and Former President of the Los 
         Angeles County Bar Association, Sheldon H. Sloan
     Los Angeles County Bar Association President, David J. 
         Pasternak
     Los Angeles County Bar Association, Litigation Section Chair, 
         Michael S. Fields
     Former California Judge, Lawyer Elwood Lui, Jones Day, Reavis 
         & Pogue, Los Angeles, California
     Loyola Law School Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Laurie 
         L. Levenson, Los Angeles, California
     National Council of La Raza President, Raul Yzaguirre
     Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County 
         President-Elect, Arnoldo Casillas
     Special Counsel to the County of Los Angeles, Consultant to 
         the Los Angeles Police Commission, Merrick J. Bobb
     Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President & CEO, Sandra 
         L. Ferniza
     Latina Lawyers Bar Association President, Elsa Leyva

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, believe me, this is going to be a very big 
day for this nominee, for my friend Richard Paez. He is a good man. 
Before Senator Specter begins, once more I thank him. He has been so 
fair to this nominee and also to Marsha Berzon. I thank him for his 
strong support of these two nominees.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

                          ____________________