[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 055 (Monday, April 7, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4890-S4892]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

  NOMINATION OF CORMAC J. CARNEY, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE UNITED STATES 
         DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will go 
into executive session to consider the nomination of Cormac J. Carney, 
which the clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read the nomination of Cormac J. Carney, of 
California, to be United States District Judge for the Central District 
of California.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased today to speak in support of 
Judge Cormac Carney, who has been nominated to the United States 
District Court for the Central District of California.
  Following his graduation from Harvard Law School in 1987, Judge 
Carney entered private practice with the high powered law firm of 
Latham & Watkins. He worked there until 1991. He next worked as an 
associate for another widely respected law firm, O'Melveny & Myers, 
where he became a partner in 1995. He remained at O'Melveny until his 
appointment to the Orange County Superior Court in 2001, where he has 
presided over both criminal and civil matters.
  Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Carney was an 
exceptional business litigator who typically represented Fortune 500 
companies as both plaintiffs and defendants. His areas of expertise 
included complex matters such as real estate, partnership, lender 
liability, environmental law, intellectual property, and insurance 
coverage.
  Even with a heavy workload and prestigious clients, Judge Carney 
devoted numerous hours to pro bono work for the disadvantaged. As a 
partner at O'Melveny, he supervised the firm's junior lawyers on pro 
bono cases, which included housing issues, education, civil rights, and 
the rights of homeless people. Because of the firm's extensive pro bono 
work, the Orange County Bar Association awarded it the Pro Bono 
Services Award, and the Orange County Public Law Center awarded it the 
Law Firm of the Year Award.
  Since his appointment to the bench, Judge Carney has become involved 
with victims' rights. He currently serves as a member of the Governing 
Board of Victim Assistance Programs in Orange County. The Board 
provides support and guidance to all victim assistance programs and 
advises on procedure and policies relating to operations of victim 
centers located throughout Orange County.
  Although Judge Carney has had a stellar legal career, I must note 
that before he made law his chosen profession he played professional 
football, first for the New York Giants and then for the Memphis 
Showboats. The legal profession is fortunate that he ultimately joined 
our ranks, since he has served on both sides of the bench with 
compassion, integrity, intelligence and fairness. I am confident that 
he will serve with the same qualities on the Federal district court 
bench.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to support the nomination 
of Judge Cormac Carney for the Central District of California.
  Judge Carney is a bright, young judge with truly impressive 
credentials. Judge Carney graduated cum laude from UCLA, where he 
earned All-American honors as a wide receiver. He attended Harvard Law 
School, worked as a partner for the prestigious law firm of O'Melveny & 
Myers, and has served with distinction as a Los Angeles Superior Court 
judge.
  I am confident he will prove a valuable addition to the bench in the 
Southern District of California.
  Today's vote on Judge Carney marks a milestone event for California's 
bipartisan Judicial Advisory Committee, which Senator Barbara Boxer and 
I set up with the White House.
  Judge Carney is the eighth judge to come out of the advisory 
committee. Nearly every one of these judges has passed out of the 
committee by a unanimous vote.
  With Judge Carney's confirmation, the committee will have filled all 
the current district court vacancies in California.
  This if the first time in recent memory that all of California's 
authorized district court judgeships are filled.
  I would like to give credit to Jerry Parsky and the White House for 
working constructively with the California Senate delegation in a 
bipartisan manner to get these judgeships filled.
  The results of the committee's efforts speak for themselves. On 
average, these eight California judges have received Senate 
confirmation within 114 days of their nomination.
  In contrast, during the last year of the Clinton administration, 
district court nominees took an average of 196 days to get confirmed.
  We have confirmed these nominees efficiently and without rancor. This 
process has enabled the best and the brightest legal minds of our state 
to gain admission to the Federal bench.
  I hope the Senate sees our efforts in California as a model of how 
the judicial nominations process could work.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the 
nomination.
  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 Cormac J. Carney, of California, to be

[[Page S4891]]

United States District Court Judge for the Central District of 
California? The yeas and nays are ordered, and the clerk will call the 
roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander), the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Allen), the Senator from 
Missouri (Mr. Bond), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Brownback), the 
Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from Oregon (Mr. 
Smith), and the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Talent) are necessarily 
absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Corzine), 
the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Florida 
(Mr. Graham), the Senator from Iowa (Mr. Harkin), the Senator from 
Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), the 
Senator from Louisiana (Ms. Landrieu), the Senator from Connecticut 
(Mr. Lieberman), the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Mikulski), the Senator 
from Georgia (Mr. Miller), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson), the 
Senator from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes), and the Senator from New York 
(Mr. Schumer) are necessary absent.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson) 
would each vote ``Aye''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham of South Carolina). Are there any 
other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 80, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 126 Ex.]

                                YEAS--80

     Akaka
     Allard
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     Dayton
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham (SC)
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Thomas
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--20

     Alexander
     Allen
     Bond
     Brownback
     Corzine
     Edwards
     Graham (FL)
     Harkin
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Kerry
     Landrieu
     Lieberman
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Nelson (FL)
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Smith
     Talent
  The nomination was confirmed.
  Mr. LEAHY. With today's confirmation vote on the nomination of Judge 
Cormac Carney to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of 
California, Senate Democrats again demonstrate their bipartisanship 
toward consensus nominees. Judge Carney's confirmation will bring to 16 
the number of judicial nominees of President Bush confirmed just this 
year, with 14 district court nominees and two circuit court nominees 
confirmed in the first 10 weeks since the reorganization of the Senate. 
This stands in marked contrast to 1996 when only 17 judicial nominees 
of President Clinton were confirmed all year, and not one of them was 
for the circuit courts.
  Last year alone, in an election year, the Democratic-led Senate 
confirmed 72 judicial nominees, more than in any of the prior 6 years 
of Republican control. Overall, in the prior 17 months I chaired the 
Judiciary Committee, we were able to confirm 100 judges and vastly 
reduce the judicial vacancies that Republicans had stored up by 
refusing to allow scores of judicial nominees of President Clinton to 
be considered. Not once did the Republican-controlled Senate consider 
that many of President Clinton's district and circuit court nominees. 
We were able to do so despite the White House's refusal to consult with 
Democrats on circuit court vacancies and many district court vacancies.
  There is no doubt that the judicial nominees of this President are 
conservation, many of them quite to the right of the mainstream. Many 
of these nominees have been active in conservative political causes or 
groups. Democrats moved fairly and expeditiously on as many as we could 
consistent with our obligations to evaluate carefully and thoroughly 
these nominees to lifetime seats in the Federal courts. Unfortunately, 
many of this President's judicial nominees have proven to be quite 
controversial and we have had serious concerned about whether they 
would be fair judges if confirmed to lifetime positions. We are pleased 
that this is not the case with Judge Carney of California.
  While Republicans frequently point to the 377 judges confirmed for 
President Clinton, what they tellingly leave out is that only 245 of 
them were confirmed during the 6\1/2\ years Republicans controlled the 
Senate. That amounts to only 38 confirmations per year when the 
Republicans last held a majority. In 1999, the Republican majority did 
not hold a hearing on any judicial nominee until June. Last week, the 
Republican majority held its seventh hearing including a 32nd judicial 
nominee in the last 2 months. The Senate Judiciary Committee under 
Republican control operates in two very different ways under very 
different practices and rules depending on the political party of the 
President. This year it is acting like a runaway train, operating at 
breakneck speed and breaking longstanding rules and practices of the 
committee to rush through the consideration of lifetime appointees.
  This year we have had a rocky beginning with a hearing for three 
controversial circuit court nominees which caused a great many problems 
that might have been avoided had the chairman honored the bipartisan 
agreement on controversial nominees and the pace of hearings and votes 
that has been in place since 1985, for almost 20 years. The chairman's 
insistence on terminating debate on the Cook and Roberts nominations, 
in clear violation of the committee's express rules that have been 
honored since 1979, for almost 25 years--is another serious problem. Of 
course, with the Estrada nomination, the administration's unwillingness 
to work with the Senate to provide access to documents of the exact 
same type as have been provided in past nominations for lifetime and 
short-term appointments has proven to be a significant problem. The 
opposition to the Sutton nomination is also extensive. The 
unprecedented nature of a President re-nominating someone for the same 
judicial position after a defeat in committee has led to the very 
controversial Owen nomination pending on the floor with the assent of 
only the Republicans on the committee. The chairman's decision to hold 
a hearing on the controversial Judge Kuhl, despite objections of one of 
her home state Senators, is also problematic and is something that he 
never did, not once, when there was a Democrat in the White House.
  Nonetheless, the Senate has proceeded to confirm 116 of President 
Bush's judicial nominees, including 16 this year alone and another 
today. It was not until September 1999, 9 months into the year, that 16 
of President Clinton's judicial nominees were confirmed in the first 
session of the last Congress in which Republicans controlled the Senate 
majority. At the pace set by Republicans now, we are 6 months ahead of 
that schedule.
  The confirmation of Judge Carney will fill the last current vacancy 
in the Federal district courts in California. This nomination is a good 
example of the kind of bipartisan-supported candidates the President 
ought to be sending the Senate. Judge Carney comes to us after being 
unanimously approved by California's Bipartisan Judicial Advisory 
Committee--a committee established through an agreement Senator 
Feinstein and Senator Boxer reached with the White House. This is one 
of the few bipartisan commissions that the White House has allowed to 
proceed, although the White House has not moved forward with some of 
its bipartisan, qualified recommendations. This California committee 
works to take the politics out of judicial nominations. It reviews 
qualified, consensus nominees who will serve on the Federal judiciary 
with distinction. Too often in the last 2 years we have seen the 
recommendations of such bipartisan panels rejected or stalled at the 
White House. Instead, they should be honored and encouraged.
  Judge Carney has served as a Superior Court Judge in the State of 
California since 2001. Judge Carney was a

[[Page S4892]]

partner with the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers handling civil matters 
before he was appointed to the State court bench in 2001. He played 
professional football before going to law school and has served in the 
Air Force Reserve.
  Two other district judges in California have already been unanimously 
confirmed this year, Judge Selna and Judge Otero. Last Congress, led by 
a Democratic Senate majority, the Senate confirmed four nominees to the 
Federal district courts in California. Percy Anderson and John Walter 
were confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of 
California on April 25, 2002, just 3 months after their initial 
nominations. The Senate also confirmed Robert G. Klausner to be a U.S. 
District Judge for the Central District of California on July 18, 2002, 
and Jeffrey S. White to be a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern 
District of California on November 14, 2002. The Senate has now filled 
all seven of the vacancies on the Federal trial courts in California 
that we inherited.

  Last year, at the urging of Senator Feinstein and the chief judge of 
the district, we included in the 21st Century Department of Justice 
Appropriations Authorization Act, five additional judgeships for the 
Southern District of California. We also included an additional 
position for the Central District of California. By mid-July California 
will have six important vacancies to be filled. I look forward to 
working with the Senators from California to proceed, if possible, in 
advance of July on additional nominations so that these much-needed 
seats can be filled quickly with fair, mainstream nominees. It is 
unfortunate that the President, who has had notice of these upcoming 
vacancies for some time, has not worked with the California Senators 
and their bipartisan commissions to send consensus nominees to the 
Senate.
  I congratulate Judge Carney, his family, and the Senators from 
California on his confirmation.
   Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I want to express my 
support for the nomination of Cormac J. Carney to be U.S. District 
Judge, for the Central District of California. Mr. Carney has the 
knowledge, experience and personal characteristics needed to succeed on 
the Federal bench.
  Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, I was unable to return to 
Washington in time for the vote to confirm Mr. Carney, but I would like 
the Record to reflect that, had I been present, I would have cast my 
vote in favor of his confirmation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The President will be immediately notified of 
this action.

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