[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 105 (Monday, July 29, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7462-S7463]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            VOTE EXPLANATION

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I support the nomination of 
Julia Smith Gibbons and would have voted aye to confirm her nomination 
to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
  Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, I am very pleased to be here today as 
the Senate takes up for consideration the nomination of Judge Julia 
Smith Gibbons to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit. I am 
grateful to my colleagues for their unanimous vote on Friday in support 
of cloture on this nomination to allow it to come to a vote today.
  I support this nomination, and I am confident my colleagues will do 
so as well when they learn of Judge Gibbons's background and 
qualifications. Judge Gibbons will be a welcome addition to the Sixth 
Circuit. Before I address Judge Gibbons's qualifications, I want to let 
my colleagues know of the problems confronting the Sixth Circuit.
  Today, 29 of the 179 U.S. Circuit Court judgeships remain unfilled. 
Eight of those 29 vacancies are in the Sixth Circuit. Let me put that 
into perspective: 28 percent of all of the vacant circuit judgeships in 
the country occur in just one of the 13 Circuits.
  These 8 vacancies constitute one-half of the 16 judgeships allocated 
to the Sixth Circuit, which is twice the number of vacancies in any 
other circuit. Meanwhile, the court's caseload continues to rise.
  Not surprisingly, the Sixth Circuit is also the slowest appellate 
court in the Federal system. According to the Chief Judge of the Sixth 
Circuit, the average time from filing to decision is 2 years, some 6 
months slower than the next slowest circuit.
  We must also recognize that the vacancy rate does not only affect the 
Sixth Circuit and litigants before that court. In order to fill its 
annual need for over 160 three-judge panels to hear cases, the Sixth 
Circuit must bring in visiting judges from other circuits or from 
district courts. Last fiscal year, visiting judge handled almost 20 
percent of the Sixth Circuit's workload, and the Court relied on 
visiting judges twice as often as any other circuit.
  While some of these visiting judges are senior judges, many are 
active circuit and district judges. These judges maintain a full docket 
themselves, in addition to pitching in to assist the Sixth Circuit. As 
district judges spend more time handling appellate cases, they must put 
off acting on their own dockets. The ripple effect caused by the 
vacancy rate on the Sixth Circuit is therefore much broader than we 
might suppose. According to a recent witness before the Judiciary 
Committee, the demands being made on district judges within the Sixth 
Circuit to fill seats on three-judge panels are so burdensome, that 
many district judges are now refusing what had been considered a 
prestigious assignment.
  The vacancy rate on the Sixth Circuit is placing a significant burden 
on the entire Federal judiciary, which would be overburdened even if 
every vacancy were filled.
  Some of the adverse impacts of the vacancy rate on the Sixth Circuit 
are not so readily discernible or can be quantified. For instance, 
visiting judges from outside the circuit or from the district courts 
may not be as familiar with Sixth Circuit law as the judges of the 
Sixth Circuit themselves. The court's reliance on such a large 
contingent of visiting judges increases the risk of intra-circuit 
conflict among different panels of the court, making en

[[Page S7463]]

banc review by the full Sixth Circuit more frequent. And en banc review 
places greater burdens on the court by requiring that all active 
judges, rather than just a portion of them, give the case their 
attention.
  I am not seeking to lay blame. I am just pointing out that we must 
overcome the differences that have led us to the quagmire in which we 
find ourselves. And I believe it is fair for me to do so. During 
President Clinton's administration, I did all I could to get the 
President's nominees to the district courts in Tennessee confirmed 
quickly. I also shepherded through the Senate the nomination of the 
last judge confirmed to the Sixth Circuit, Ronald Gilman.
  I hope that the fact that the Senate is moving to take up the 
nomination of Judge Gibbons bodes well for our willingness to take up 
other nominations to the Sixth Circuit.
  Let me turn now to the specific nomination before us. Despite her 
relative youth for such a position, Judge Julia Smith Gibbons been a 
judge for over 20 years. I am confident that the Senate will not 
consider any more highly qualified nominee this year.
  Judge Gibbons was born and raised in Pulaski, TN, which is a small 
town in south-central Tennessee less than 20 miles from Lawrenceburg, 
where I grew up. She attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, from 
which she received her B.A. magna cum laude in 1972 and where she was 
elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the national honor society.
  Judge Gibbons then left Tennessee to attend law school in our 
neighbor to the east at the University of Virginia Law School, where 
she was a member of the editorial board of the law review and was 
elected to the Order of the Coif, the national legal honor society.
  Upon graduating from law school, she returned to Tennessee to clerk 
for Judge William Miller of the Sixth Circuit, the court to which Judge 
Gibbons has been nominated. In 1976, Judge Gibbons became an associate 
with a Memphis law firm.
  After 3 years practicing law, Judge Gibbons joined the administration 
of Governor Lamar Alexander as the Governor's legal advisor in 1979. In 
1981, Governor Alexander appointed Judge Gibbons to the Tennessee 
Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which covers Memphis 
and Shelby County, and she was elected to a full term in 1982.
  In 1983, Judge Gibbons was appointed United States District Judge for 
the Western District of Tennessee by President Reagan, the first woman 
to hold such a position in Tennessee. At the time, she was the youngest 
Federal judge in the Nation. From 1994 to 2000, she served as Chief 
Judge of the court.
  She is very highly regarded by the bar as an exceptional trial judge. 
While she was being considered for this appointment and since her 
nomination, I have heard from many lawyers who have practiced before 
her extolling her virtues as a trial judge.
  Her reputation is national and has been recognized by the Chief 
Justice, who has appointed her to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict 
Litigation, the Judicial Resources Committee of the Judicial 
Conference, and the Judicial Officer Resources Working Group.
  Despite her heavy judicial workload, Judge Gibbons has remained 
active in her church and community, serving as an elder of the Idlewild 
Presbyterian Church and as a former president of the Memphis Rotary 
Club.
  In sum, I am confident that Judge Gibbons will be an outstanding 
member of the Sixth Circuit, as she has been an outstanding trial 
judge.
  Before I yield, let me thank Chairman Leahy and his staff, and 
Senator Hatch and his staff for their cooperation and assistance in 
moving this nomination forward. I hope our action today on Judge 
Gibbons bodes well for getting the remaining Sixth Circuit vacancies 
filled expeditiously.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in voting to support the nomination 
of Judge Julia Smith Gibbons.

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