[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 73 (Thursday, May 24, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5601-S5602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     NOMINATION OF VIET D. DINH TO BE AN ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will 
report the nomination.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Viet D. Dinh of the 
District of Columbia to be an Assistant Attorney General.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I strongly support the nominations of 
Michael Chertoff to be Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal 
Division and Viet Dinh to be Assistant Attorney General for the Office 
of Policy Development.
  Both nominees have outstanding qualifications. Mr. Chertoff graduated 
with honors from both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, then 
served as a law clerk for Justice Brennan of the U.S. Supreme Court. He 
also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of 
New York, and as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. In 
1994, Mr. Chertoff served as Special Counsel for the U.S. Senate 
Special Committee to Investigate Whitewater and Related Matters. Most 
recently he has worked as a partner at the prestigious law firm of 
Latham & Watkins, where he is national chair of the firm's white collar 
criminal practice. He was also appointed Special Counsel by the New 
Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee in its inquiry into racial profiling 
by state police. As his distinguished career illustrates, Mr. Chertoff 
is well suited to lead the Department of Justice Criminal Division--
which explains why his nomination has received significant bipartisan 
support.
  Viet Dinh is likewise eminently qualified for the position of 
Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Policy Development. As Mr. 
Dinh told us during his confirmation hearing, he came to this country 
from Vietnam when he was ten years old under extraordinarily difficult 
circumstances. He went on to graduate from Harvard College and then 
Harvard Law School with honors. Mr. Dinh completed two federal 
clerkships, one for Judge Laurence Silberman on the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the other for Justice Sandra Day 
O'Connor on the Supreme Court. He then served as Associate Special 
Counsel to the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Whitewater. In 
1996, he became a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where 
he received tenure last year. His academic writings evince a sharp 
legal mind and keen judgment--attributes that are essential to lead the 
Office of Policy Development.
  Both Mr. Dinh and Mr. Chertoff have distinguished themselves with 
hard work and great intellect. I am confident that they will do great 
service to the Department of Justice and the citizens of this country, 
and I support their nominations wholeheartedly.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Viet Dinh, 
the President's nominee to be Assistant Attorney General for the Office 
of Policy Development. I have had the pleasure of knowing him both 
professionally and personally over the past several years and cannot 
imagine a more qualified candidate for this position.
  Professor Dinh's journey began 23 years ago on a small fishing boat 
off the coast of Vietnam. For 12 days, the ten-year-old Viet and 84 
others fought storms, hunger, and gunfire as their boat drifted in the 
South China Sea. Fortunately, Viet, his mother, and six siblings, 
reached a refugee camp after coming ashore in Malaysia. After being 
admitted to the United States Viet's family arrived in Oregon and later 
moved to California, where Viet became a U.S. citizen.
  Those early years presented many challenges for Viet and his family. 
They had little money and worked long hours in the berry fields. 
Moreover, Viet's father had been incarcerated in Vietnam because of his 
role as a city councilman. It was not until 1983 that they were finally 
reunited after his father's successful escape from Vietnam.
  Despite this tumultuous beginning, Dinh persevered. More than that, 
he excelled. Perhaps those early obstacles hardened Viet's resolve and 
fueled his rapid ascent through the legal profession.
  Viet graduated magna cum laude from both Harvard College and Harvard 
Law School, where he was a class marshal and an Olin Research Fellow in 
law and economics. He served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence H. 
Silberman of the U.S. Court Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to U.S. 
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

[[Page S5602]]

  Shortly after Viet completed his Supreme Court clerkship, he came to 
work for the U.S. Senate, where I had the opportunity to work with him 
for the first time. He quickly demonstrated his outstanding legal 
ability, superb professional judgment, and fine character.
  Professor Dinh's record of achievement continued in academia. Viet 
currently is a professor of law at Georgetown University, where he is 
the deputy director of the Asian Law and Policy Studies Program. In 
addition to his expertise in Asian law, Professor Dinh is accomplished 
in constitutional law, corporate law, and international law. He has 
also served as counsel to the special master mediating lawsuits by 
Holocaust victims against German and Austrian banks.
  Since he left the Senate, I have called on him from time to time for 
counsel on constitutional issues. On each occasion, Viet exhibited a 
comprehensive knowledge of the law and extraordinary energy.
  In closing, I believe that Professor Dinh's character, along with his 
distinguished academic and professional accomplishments, make him 
uniquely qualified to serve in the Department of Justice. It is, thus, 
with great pleasure that I will vote for his confirmation.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am prepared to vote in favor of Professor 
Dinh's nomination to be the Assistant Attorney General for the Office 
of Policy Development at the Department of Justice. I do so, however, 
with reservations.
  Like other members of the committee, I admire Professor Dinh and his 
family for the courage they displayed during their extraordinary 
journey to this country from Vietnam. I also do not question 
Professor's Dinh's obvious intelligence or his academic achievements. 
If we were evaluating a nominee for a teaching position, I would vote 
for him without hesitation.
  However, I am concerned by Professor Dinh's relative lack of 
experience for the position in the Department of Justice for which he 
has been nominated. One of the major responsibilities of the Office of 
Policy Development at the Department of Justice, which Professor Dinh 
has been nominated to head, is the evaluation of the qualifications and 
fitness of candidates for the Federal judiciary. Yet Professor Dinh, as 
he concedes, has never appeared as an attorney in a court of law. Aside 
from being a law clerk and an academic, Professor Dinh's principal 
real-world experience since graduating from law school in 1993 has been 
as associate counsel to the Republicans in the Senate Whitewater 
investigation of President Clinton. While that was no doubt an 
excellent introduction to the world of partisan politics, it hardly 
provides a model of the apolitical and unbiased pursuit of justice that 
ought to characterize the operations of the United States Department of 
Justice.
  I am also concerned by Professor Dinh's testimony about his 
involvement with the Federalist Society. In answer to questions by 
Senator Durbin, Professor Dinh testified that he did not know whether 
the Federalist Society had a stated philosophy and that he viewed it 
simply as ``a forum for discussion of law and public policy from both 
sides.'' (Tr. 71, 73). Yet the Federalist Society itself states quite 
prominently on its internet website that it is ``a group of 
conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the 
legal order'' and concerned with the alleged domination of the legal 
profession ``by a form of orthodox liberal ideology which advocates a 
centralized and uniform society.'' I do not, of course, suggest that 
membership in the Federalist Society should disqualify someone from 
public office, any more than should membership in other organizations 
such as the American Civil Liberties Union that seek to promote a 
particular political philosophy or agenda. Nevertheless, it is simply 
not accurate to portray the Federalist Society as a non-partisan 
debating society.
  In his writings, Professor Dinh, like other members of the Federalist 
Society, has condemned what is sometimes called ``judicial activism.'' 
However, when I asked Professor Dinh in my written questions to cite 
some specific cases where courts that had occurred, the only example he 
provided was a California decision from 1854 that dealt with the 
disqualification of persons of Chinese ancestry from testifying in 
court. While obviously no one would disagree with Professor Dinh's 
condemnation of that odious decision, his answer is not particularly 
enlightening as to what he views as the proper limits on the role of 
the judiciary in the 21st century. Many legal scholars regard the 
Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore as a recent and obvious 
example of a court's overstepping its role and improperly injecting 
itself into the political arena. Yet, when I asked Professor Dinh 
specifically about that case in my written questions, he stated that, 
in his opinion, the Supreme Court Justices had ``exercised their 
judgment in a thoughtful and prudent manner given the nature of the 
case, the rulings below and the constraints of time.''
  Despite my misgivings, I have decided to vote in favor of Professor 
Dinh's nomination. I believe that he has answered the Committee's 
questions. I am giving him the benefit of all doubts and giving 
deference to the President's decision with respect to this appointed 
policy position. Moreover, regardless of Professor Dinh's political 
views and associations, I credit his assurances that he will exercise 
his judgment based upon the merits of legal positions and judicial 
candidates he is called upon to evaluate rather than on political 
ideology.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is, 
Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of Viet D. Dinh, 
of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Attorney General? On 
this question the yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will 
call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Jeffords) 
is necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Kohl) and 
the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Rockefeller) are necessarily 
absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ensign). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 1, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 168 Ex.]

                                YEAS--96

     Akaka
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carnahan
     Carper
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corzine
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     Dayton
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--1

       
     Clinton
       

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Jeffords
     Kohl
     Rockefeller
  The nomination was confirmed.

                          ____________________