[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 25 (Friday, March 8, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1696-S1697]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NOMINATION OF JEFFREY HOWARD

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Madam President, there has been a lot of 
discussion about the Pickering nomination and about the delay in 
approving judges. It seems to be a perennial issue. Senator Specter 
just spoke about it. But there are times when we need to put some of 
these partisan feelings behind us and look at some of these 
nominations.
  I rise to discuss the nomination of Jeffrey Howard to be a justice 
for the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorney Howard is like many 
other of President Bush's nominees who have yet to even receive a 
hearing. These men and women whom we nominate, their lives go on hold. 
They have law practices. They have responsibilities. They have 
families. What do you do?
  Jeff Howard is a young man. He has a family. He was nominated on 
August 2, 2001. I was pleased to have been the prime mover and sponsor 
of that nomination because Jeff Howard is extremely well qualified for 
this position. But his nomination, with all due respect to the chairman 
of the Judiciary Committee, has now been pending for 217 days.
  The vacancy he was nominated to fill was formerly held by Judge 
Norman Stahl. This vacancy was created on April 16, 2001. You may want 
to keep this in mind. We are almost to the first-year anniversary of 
the creation of the vacancy, and yet, how does he conduct his law 
practice? How does he take on new clients? What does he do?
  His paperwork has been complete since September 20, 2001. Both 
Senator

[[Page S1697]]

Gregg and I returned our blue ships--that means approval slips--on 
September 20, 2001. There is no reason this nomination cannot have a 
hearing. There is no controversy here. He should have a hearing.
  Jeff Howard has an impressive array of legal experience that well 
qualifies him to be a Federal appellate judge. He served as U.S. 
attorney for New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993. In that post, he 
litigated numerous cases at both the trial and appellate levels and was 
a member of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of U.S. 
Attorneys. For his efforts, he received the Attorney General's Edmund 
Randolph Award as well as the U.S. Attorneys' Award.
  He has Federal experience that includes a stint as principal 
associate deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice 
from 1991 to 1992. He performed this job at the request of former 
Attorney General Bill Barr. In addition to his work as U.S. attorney, 
he served as attorney general of New Hampshire from 1993 to 1997 and 
deputy attorney general in 1988 and 1989. In these State and Federal 
capabilities, Jeff Howard has been involved in thousands of litigated 
matters covering the full range of issues that are going to come before 
him as a Federal judge.
  In particular, he has been either on the brief or lead counsel in 
more than 100 cases in the First Circuit, the court to which the 
President has nominated him. Over the last 10 years, he has performed 
approximately 2,500 hours of pro bono work for victims of domestic 
violence.
  He grew up on his grandfather's dairy farm in Cornish, NH, and later 
graduated from Plymouth State College with a B.A. and later Georgetown 
Law School, and he was editor of the American Criminal Law Review.
  This is a well qualified judge. He should be on the court. He does 
not deserve this kind of treatment. How are we going to get good people 
to come forth and take these jobs when their lives are put on hold for 
years, sometimes, let alone months and days?
  The circuit court nomination pace is incredible. During the first 
year of the Clinton administration, only five court of appeals nominees 
were nominated. Of those five, three were reported out that same year. 
That is 60 percent of President Clinton's court of appeals nominees. In 
contrast, President Bush has nominated 29, and the committee has only 
reported 6. That is 21 percent. There were only two circuit court 
nominees left pending in committee at the end of President Clinton's 
first year in office. In contrast, there were 23 of President Bush's 
circuit court nominees pending in committee at the end of last year.
  It is unfair to compare the first years of the second Bush 
administration and the Clinton administration by looking only at the 
mere number of nominees confirmed. This approach fails to take into 
account the fact that President Bush chose to nominate 24 more circuit 
court nominees than President Clinton did. We can get lost in the 
numbers, and I don't want to go through it.
  I just repeat that Jeff Howard is as highly qualified a judge for the 
First Circuit as any judge I have seen. Yet we still have the 
nomination pending without even a hearing. His life is on hold. His 
family's life is on hold. I appeal to the chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee to give this good, decent, honorable judge a hearing so we 
have the opportunity to bring his nomination forth and put him on the 
bench where he belongs and where I was proud to support him.

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