[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 105 (Monday, July 29, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7455-S7457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATION OF JOY FLOWERS CONTI, OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO BE UNITED STATES
DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes for debate equally divided prior to the vote on Executive
Calendar No. 827, which the clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read the nomination of Joy Flowers Conti, of
Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge for the Western
District of Pennsylvania.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, with today's votes on these judicial
nominations to the Federal district courts in Pennsylvania, the
Democratic-led Senate will have confirmed 63 judicial nominees since
the change in Senate majority a little more than 1 year ago. I commend
Majority Leader Daschle for having worked through the problems created
by the White House's refusal to proceed in a bipartisan way with
nominations to bipartisan boards and commissions and for having worked
with Senator McCain to get to this point.
I understand Senator McCain's frustration with the White House and
how it is treating nominations but thank him for allowing us to proceed
with these judicial nominations at this time. In fact, this majority
leader has worked hard to bring these nominations to the floor and his
efforts have included having to proceed by way of cloture on three
nominees in the last few weeks. He has gone the extra mile and that
should be acknowledged.
Similarly, the Judiciary Committee continues to make efforts that
were not made by the Republican leadership.
We have held hearings on a record number of nominees and reported a
record number of nominees. Seventy-five judicial nominees have been
voted on by the Judiciary Committee since the change in majority last
summer. This week we will hold a hearing for the 82nd, 83rd, 84th and
85th judicial nominees, including our 18th circuit court nominee. We
have proceeded with nominees to fill vacancies even though Republicans
held up moderate nominees by President Clinton to those same vacancies.
We have confirmed new judges for the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Circuit
courts of appeals for the first time in three, six and five years,
respectively. So much for the partisan critics who scream about a
blockage of President Bush's nominees by Democrats in the Senate. The
facts are that we have been fairer to President Bush's nominees than
the Republicans were to President Clinton's.
Today is another example. The Senate has acted quickly on these
nominations to the district courts in Pennsylvania. Joy Flowers Conti
participated in a hearing in May, within weeks of her paperwork being
complete. I know that Senator Specter strongly supports Ms. Conti's
nomination, as well as Mr. Jones, and he specifically requested that
she be accorded a hearing as soon as possible. Likewise John Jones
received a hearing in May, shortly after his paperwork was completed.
With today's votes on two Pennsylvania nominees, the Judiciary
Committee will have held hearings for 10 district court nominees from
that State, including Judge Davis, Judge Baylson, and Judge Rufe, who
were confirmed in April, and Judge Conner, who was just confirmed last
Friday. Those confirmations illustrate the progress being made under
Democratic leadership and the fair and expeditious way this President's
nominees are being treated.
With today's confirmations, there is no State in the Union that has
had more Federal judicial nominees confirmed by this Senate than
Pennsylvania. I think that the Senate Judiciary Committee and the
Senate as a whole have done well by Pennsylvania. Contrast this with
the way vacancies in Pennsylvania were left unfilled during Republican
control of the Senate, particularly regarding nominees in the western
half of the State.
Despite the best efforts and diligence of my good friend from
Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, to secure confirmation of all of the
judicial nominees from every part of his home State, there were seven
nominees by President Clinton to Pennsylvania vacancies that never got
a hearing or a vote.
A good example of the contrast is the nomination of Judge Legrome
Davis. He was first nominated to the position of U.S. District Court
Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by President Clinton on
July 30, 1998.
The Republican-controlled Senate took no action on his nomination and
it was returned to the President at the end of 1998. On January 26,
1999, President Clinton renominated Judge Davis for the same vacancy.
The Senate again failed to hold a hearing for Judge Davis and his
nomination was returned after 2 more years.
Under Republican leadership, Judge Davis' nomination languished
before the committee for 868 days without a hearing. Unfortunately,
Judge Davis was subjected to the kind of inappropriate partisan rancor
that befell so many other nominees to the district courts in
Pennsylvania during the Republican control of the Senate.
The lack of Senate action on Judge Davis's initial nominations is in
no way attributable to a lack of support from the senior Senator from
Pennsylvania. Far from it. In fact, I give Senator Specter full credit
for getting President Bush to renominate Judge Davis earlier this year
and commended him publicly for all he has done to support this
nomination from the outset.
This year we moved expeditiously to consider Judge Davis, and he was
confirmed in just 84 days.
The saga of Judge Davis recalls for us so many nominees from the
period of
[[Page S7456]]
January 1995 through July 10, 2001, who never received a hearing or a
vote and who were the subject of secret anonymous holds by Republicans
for reasons that were never explained.
In contrast, the hearing we had earlier this year for Ms. Conti was
the very first hearing on a nominee to the Western District of
Pennsylvania since 1994, in almost a decade, despite President
Clinton's qualified nominees. No nominee to the Western District of
Pennsylvania received a hearing during the entire period that
Republicans controlled the Senate in the Clinton administration.
One of the nominees to the Western District, Lynette Norton, waited
for almost 1,000 days, and she was never given the courtesy of a
hearing or a vote. Unfortunately, Ms. Norton died earlier this year,
having never fulfilled her dream of serving on the Federal bench.
Today's confirmation vote on Ms. Conti will be the first on a nominee
to the Western District of Pennsylvania in almost 8 years, since Judge
McLaughlin and Judge Cindrich were confirmed in October of 1994.
Despite this history of poor treatment of President Clinton's nominees,
we continue to move forward fairly and expeditiously.
Large numbers of vacancies continue to exist, in large measure
because the recent Republican majority was not willing to hold hearings
or vote on more than 50 of President Clinton's judicial nominees, many
of whom waited for years and never received a vote on their nomination.
It is Democrats who have broken with that history of inaction from the
Republican era of control, delay, and obstruction.
With today's confirmations of Judge Conti and Judge Jones to the
Federal district courts in Pennsylvania, the Senate will have confirmed
51 district court nominees and 63 judges overall since the change in
majority last summer. Contrast this with the Republican average, during
their past 6\1/2\ years on control, of 31 district court judges a year
and 38 judges a year overall. I congratulate the nominees and their
families on their confirmations today and commend Senator Specter and
Majority Leader Daschle for all they have done to bring us to this day.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I had no intention of bringing up the topic
of judicial nominations today, but I feel I must respond to the
comments made just now.
Curently there are 92 empty seats in the Federal judiciary, a 10.7
percent vacancy rate--one of the highest in modern times. This means
that 10.7 percent of all Federal courtrooms are presided over by an
empty chair.
There are currently 22 nominees pending who are slated to fill
positions which have been declared judicial emergencies by the
Administrative Office of the Courts. Of those, 13 are courts of appeals
nominees.
During President Clinton's second year in office, the Senate
confirmed 100 of his judicial nominees. I would expect the Senate
Democrats to do the same for President Bush. But they are not doing so.
Only 4 of President Bush's first 11 nominees--nominated on May 9,
2001--have had hearings. In other words, the Judiciary Committee has
taken no action whatsoever on nearly two-thirds of the circuit court
nominations that have been pending for over 14 months. There is no
reason for this other than stall tactics. All of these nominees
received qualified or well-qualified ratings from the American Bar
Association.
There were 31 vacancies in the Federal courts of appeals on May 9,
2001, and there are 30 today. The Senate Democrats are trying to create
an illusion of movement by creating great media attention and
controversy concerning a small handful of nominees in order to make it
look like progress. But we are hardly making any progress in filling
circuit vacancies.
President Bush has responded to the vacancy crisis in the appellate
courts by nominating a total of 31 top-notch men and women to these
posts--but the Senate is simply stalling them. Over the past year, the
Senate has confirmed only nine. There are still 22 circuit court
nominees pending in committee. By comparison, at the end of President
Clinton's second year in office, we had confirmed 19 circuit judges and
had 15 circuit court vacancies.
Mr. President, the comparison does not end there. 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.
Mr. President, some try to blame the Republicans for the vacancy
crisis, but that is bunk. At the end of the 106th Congress when I was
chairman, we had 67 vacancies in the Federal judiciary. During the past
9 months, the vacancy rate has been hovering right around 100. Today it
is at 92.
The real story here, Mr. President, is that the Senate's Democratic
leadership is treating President Bush unfairly when it comes to
judicial nominees. Some would justify this unfair treatment of
President Bush as tit for tat, or business as usual, but the American
people should not accept such a smokescreen. What the Senate leadership
is doing is unprecedented.
Historically, a President can count on seeing all of his first 11
circuit court nominees confirmed. Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton
all enjoyed a 100 percent confirmation rate on their first 11 circuit
court nominees. In stark contrast, 8 of President Bush's first 11
nominations are still pending now for over 1 whole year.
History also shows that Presidents can expect almost all of their
first 100 nominees to be confirmed swiftly. Presidents Reagan, Bush,
and Clinton got 97, 95 and 97, respectively, of their first 100
judicial nominations confirmed. But the Senate has confirmed only 57 of
President Bush's first 100 nominees.
In sum, Mr. President, I think that the American people deserve
better, President Bush deserves better, and the Judicial Branch of our
Government deserves better. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator has expired. Who
yields time?
The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, it is a proud moment for me to speak on
behalf of Joy Flowers Conti. I had the privilege of practicing with her
as a lawyer in Pittsburgh. She is an outstanding litigator and
outstanding person in the community, and I am very grateful that her
nomination is coming to the Senate floor.
The next vote will be on John E. Jones for the Middle District,
another outstanding litigator and someone who is going to be a credit
to the court. We still have six district court judges in Pennsylvania
who have yet to be confirmed in the Senate and two third circuit--
Pennsylvania positions that need to be filled. I am hopeful those
nominations will also make their way to the floor quickly.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
Mr. SANTORUM. I yield the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back. The question is on
the confirmation of the nomination.
Mr. LEAHY. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a
sufficient second.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination
of Joy Flowers Conti, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District
Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
The clerk will call the roll.
Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr.
Helms), the Senator from Ohio (Mr. DeWine), the Senator from Arkansas
(Mr. Hutchinson), and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), are
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cantwell). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 195 Ex.]
YEAS--96
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
Dodd
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Feinstein
Fitzgerald
Frist
Graham
Gramm
Grassley
Gregg
[[Page S7457]]
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Hollings
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
McCain
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--4
DeWine
Helms
Hutchinson
McConnell
The nomination was confirmed.
____________________