[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 48 (Thursday, April 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3418-S3419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  NOMINATION OF JOAN E. LANCASTER, OF MINNESOTA, TO BE UNITED STATES 
              DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to the nomination of Joan E. Lancaster, of Minnesota, to be 
United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, which the 
clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Joan E. 
Lancaster, of Minnesota, to be United States District Judge for the 
District of Minnesota.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, with today's votes on Judge William 
Griesbach to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of 
Wisconsin and Justice Joan Lancaster to the United States District 
Court for the District of Minnesota, the Senate will have confirmed its 
40th and 41st district court judges in the less than 10 months since I 
became chairman this past summer. This is in addition to the nine 
judges confirmed to the courts of appeal.
  With today's votes, the total number of Federal judges confirmed 
since the change in Senate majority will now be 50. As our action today 
demonstrates, again, we are moving to confirm President Bush's nominees 
at a faster pace than the nominees of prior Presidents.
  It took almost 14 months for the Senate to confirm 50 judicial 
nominees for the Reagan administration. It took more than 15 months for 
the Senate to confirm 50 judicial nominees for the Clinton 
administration. And it took nearly 18 months for the Senate to confirm 
50 judicial nominees for the George H.W. Bush administration.
  At the risk of offending some of my colleagues, we have confirmed 50 
judicial nominees in 10 months--while it took the Senate nearly twice 
that amount of time to confirm the same number of his father's judicial 
nominees and nearly 50 percent more time to confirm the same number of 
President Clinton's and President Reagan's nominees. With today's 
confirmations, in the fewer than 10 months since the shift to a 
Democratic majority in the Senate, President Bush's judicial nominees 
have been confirmed at a rate of five per month, a pace nearly double 
that of the average for the last three Presidents, two of whom had 
Senates led by their own party.
  The confirmation of these nominees today demonstrates our commitment 
promptly to consider qualified, consensus nominees. I commend Senator 
Kohl and Senator Feingold who worked with Chairman Sensenbrenner to 
utilize a bipartisan commission process to recommend District Court 
nominees as has been the practice in Wisconsin for over 20 years.
  Once confirmed, Judge Griesbach, who is a well-regarded judge in 
Eastern Wisconsin, will be the first District Judge to sit in Green 
Bay, WI.
  Justice Lancaster, like Judge Griesbach, received the support of her 
Senators, Democrats who endorsed this Bush nominee. Both nominees 
appear to be the type of qualified, consensus nominees that the Senate 
has been confirming expeditiously to help fill vacancies on our Federal 
courts. I congratulate them and their families.
  With today's votes on Judge Griesbach and Justice Lancaster, in fewer 
than 10 months of Democratic leadership, 50 judicial nominees have been 
confirmed. That number exceeds the number of judicial nominees 
confirmed during all of 2000, 1999, 1997 and 1996, four out of six full 
years under Republican leadership. I would like to commend all 
Senators, but in particular the members of the Judiciary Committee, for 
their efforts to consider scores of judicial nominees for whom we have 
held hearings and on whom we have had votes during the last several 
months.
  Mr. HATCH. I rise to support the nomination of Joan Ericksen 
Lancaster to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Minnesota.
  I have had the pleasure of reviewing Justice Lancaster's 
distinguished legal career, and I have concluded as did President Bush, 
that she is a fine jurist who will add a great deal to the federal 
bench in Minnesota.
  Justice Lancaster's record of service in private practice and for the 
government is exemplary of the quality of judges the President has 
nominated.
  Following her graduation from the University of Minnesota Law School, 
Justice Lancaster worked as an Assistant City Attorney, trying 
approximately 12 jury and 40 court trials.
  From 1983 to 1993, Justice Lancaster served as an Assistant U.S. 
attorney for the District of Minnesota, representing the federal 
government in medical malpractice, tort, and insurance matters, and 
later prosecuting Federal crimes. Justice Lancaster then worked for 
several years as a partner with the Minneapolis firm of Leonard, Street 
& Deinard.
  In 1995, Justice Lancaster was named as a District Court Judge in the 
4th Judicial District in Minnesota, where she was assigned to family 
and juvenile cases. She also presided over adult civil and criminal 
matters.
  Since 1998, she has served as an Associate Justice on the Minnesota 
Supreme Court.
  Justice Lancaster is liaison to the Court's Juvenile Delinquency 
Rules Committee and has served as chair of the Minnesota Supreme Court 
Task Force on Juvenile Justice Services.
  She has also served on a statewide task force devoted to addressing 
the problem of fetal alcohol syndrome.
  I have every confidence that Justice Joan Lancaster will serve with 
distinction on the federal district court for the District of 
Minnesota.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I commend to the Senate for 
confirmation tonight the nomination of Justice

[[Page S3419]]

Joan Ericksen Lancaster to serve as a judge of the United States 
District Court in Minnesota. I also thank Chairman Leahy and Senator 
Hatch for moving this nomination through the Senate so quickly.
  Chairman Leahy has been criticized by some Republicans, at times 
grossly unfairly, for the pace with which certain nominees have come 
through the committee. This nomination, which has enjoyed broad 
bipartisan support here in the Senate, has moved very quickly, and for 
that I am very grateful. It is a model of how this process should work, 
and I would hope the White House would see it in those terms as the 
President makes future Federal judicial nominations.
  The Senate will have no problem offering its advise and consent to 
experienced, able jurists like Joan Lancaster, with longstanding 
records of public service in their communities, who are deeply 
committed to equal justice and equal opportunity for all Americans. But 
when the President nominates controversial figures with very extreme 
views, or records which call into question their commitment to equal 
opportunity and equal justice, the Senate will take more time to 
scrutinize those records and to determine if they deserve its consent, 
and reject them if they don't.
  Justice Lancaster's qualifications are outstanding. She is currently 
serving with distinction as an Associate Justice on the Minnesota 
Supreme Court, and has held that position since 1998. She has also 
served as a Judge of the 4th District Court in Hennepin County for 
three years, and as a Partner at the law firm of Leonard, Street and 
Deinard in Minneapolis for two years before that. Particularly relevant 
to the position for which she is being confirmed tonight are her ten 
years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Minnesota, where 
she provided leadership in both the civil and criminal divisions.
  Justice Lancaster's compassion, her deep commitment to creating a 
better, more just society and her record of public service are 
enormously impressive. She has lived what she speaks. She as a co-chair 
of the Governor's Task Force on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, chaired the 
Minnesota Juvenile Justice Services Task Force, chaired a number of 
important committees on the operations of the court, and has served on 
the boards of a host of other important Minnesota-based organizations 
dedicated to the causes of children, the legal system, and education. 
Her stints as a distinguished law professor at the University of 
Minnesota and the William Mitchell College of Law highlight her 
impressive intellectual and courtroom talents.
  Through these and her many other professional accomplishments, 
Justice Lancaster has earned the high regard of her peers. She received 
a well-qualified rating from the American Bar Association and she was 
reported out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously, and has from the 
start enjoyed my enthusiastic support and that of Senator Dayton.
  In my conversations with judges, and lawyers who have both practiced 
with an argued before Justice Lancaster, it is clear that she is widely 
respected and is seen as a brilliant, thoughtful and independent jurist 
with a deep commitment to justice and to the American promise of equal 
opportunity for all before the bar of justice. I thank Representative 
Ramstad and President Bush for this excellent nomination, and again 
than Senator Leahy for moving her quickly through the process.
  I congratulate Justice Lancaster and her wonderful children, John and 
Claire, whom I have had the pleasure to meet. I know Justice Lancaster 
will continue to serve as an outstanding jurist in Minnesota, and I 
offer her my warn congratulations, anticipating her confirmation. I 
commend her to the full Senate enthusiastically, and am confident 
she'll receive an overwhelming vote of support.
  Mr. President, on behalf of myself and the Presiding Officer, Senator 
Dayton--unless he is going to be able to join me on the floor--we 
congratulate Justice Joan Ericksen Lancaster, who will now serve as a 
judge for the United States District Court in Minnesota.
  She is highly qualified. We thank Senator Leahy and Senator Hatch for 
moving this so quickly. We thank all of our colleagues.
  I want to say a special hello to her wonderful children, John and 
Claire. I believe she is watching this proceeding.
  You should be proud, Judge Lancaster.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cantwell). The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. DAYTON. Madam President, I second the comments of the senior 
Senator from Minnesota.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Joan E. Lancaster, of Minnesota, to be 
United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota? The yeas 
and nays were previously ordered on the nomination. The clerk will call 
the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. 
Helms) is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 99, nays 0, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 95 Ex.]

                                YEAS--99

     Akaka
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carnahan
     Carper
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Clinton
     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
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Helms
       
  The nomination was confirmed.

                          ____________________