[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 110 (Wednesday, September 4, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S8194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONFIRMATION OF TERRENCE F. McVERRY

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I seek recognition today to express my 
strong approval of the Senate's confirmation of Mr. Terrence F. McVerry 
who President Bush nominated for the United States District Court for 
the Western District of Pennsylvania. The American Bar Association has 
rated Mr. McVerry ``unanimously well-qualified'' to sit on the bench.
  Mr. McVerry received his B.A. degree from Duquesne University in 1962 
and his J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law in 1968. After 
finishing law school, Mr. McVerry started his legal career in the 
Allegheny County District Attorney's Office. He prosecuted hundreds of 
bench and jury trials with a concentration on major felonies and 
homicides. After serving in the District Attorney's Office, he and two 
colleagues formed their own private practice. He went on to serve as a 
partner in several other prestigious Pittsburgh firms.
  Mr. McVerry has also served as a member of Pennsylvania House of 
Representatives and as a member of the Pennsylvania Commission on 
Sentencing. He served his country by joining the United States Army 
Reserve and the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. Former Pennsylvania 
Governor Tom Ridge nominated him to fill a judicial vacancy on the 
Court of Common Pleas to Allegheny County.
  Currently, he serves as a Soldier for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 
where he is the chief legal officer and director of a governmental law 
department comprised of 36 attorneys. In this capacity, he is 
responsible for the representation of all branches and departments of a 
county government that has approximately 7,000 employees and 
responsible for nearly 1.3 million inhabitants.
  Pennsylvania is fortunate to have an extremely well-qualified nominee 
like Mr. McVerry. This success is due to the bipartisan nominating 
commission which Senator Santorum and I have established. This 
commission reviews all federal judicial candidates and recommends 
individuals to Senator Santorum and myself. We then recommend these 
individuals to the President.
  I thank my colleagues for their confirmation of Mr. Terrence McVerry 
to sit on the United States District Court for the Western District of 
Pennsylvania.

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