[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 11, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7678-S7679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S7678]]
  NOMINATION OF MARK R. KRAVITZ, OF CONNECTICUT, TO BE UNITED STATES 
             DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to the following nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Mark R. 
Kravitz, of Connecticut, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of 
Connecticut.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 5 
minutes for debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking 
member or their designees prior to a vote.
  Who yields time?
  Mr. LEAHY. I yield such time as the senior Senator from Connecticut 
desires.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Madam President, I thank Senator Leahy and Senator Hatch 
for moving the nomination of Mark Kravitz. This is a first-rate 
nomination. I commend the President and others who recommended Mark 
Kravitz. He is a first-class nominee to sit on the Federal bench. My 
colleague Senator Lieberman and I strongly support this nomination. He 
has been a wonderful lawyer in Connecticut, a graduate of Wellesley 
University, Georgetown Law School, a clerk for then-Justice Rehnquist, 
has written extensively and taught at the University of Connecticut Law 
School. He is going to be a wonderful addition to the district court 
bench.
  We wanted our colleagues to know how strongly Senator Lieberman and I 
felt about this nomination. We urge our colleagues to give their 
unanimous support.
  I yield back my remaining time.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Connecticut. 
This was a case where the White House worked with the Senators from the 
home State in an effort to unite rather than divide. I suspect this 
nominee will be easily confirmed.
  With the confirmation of Mark R. Kravitz to the District Court, we 
will have filled the only vacancy on that court. I commend Senator Dodd 
and Senator Lieberman for their work in connection with this 
outstanding nomination and congratulate the nominee and his family.
  The Senate has now confirmed 131 judges, including 26 circuit court 
judges, nominated by President Bush. One hundred judicial nominees were 
confirmed when Democrats acted as the Senate majority for 17 months 
from the summer of 2001 to adjournment last year. After today, 31 will 
have been confirmed in the other 12 months in which Republicans have 
controlled the confirmation process under President Bush. This total of 
131 judges confirmed for President Bush is more confirmations than the 
Republicans allowed President Clinton in all of 1995, 1996 and 1997 the 
first 3 full years of his last term. In those 3 years, the Republican 
leadership in the Senate allowed only 111 judicial nominees to be 
confirmed, which included only 18 circuit court judges. We have already 
significantly exceeded that total with 6 months remaining to us this 
year.
  If the Senate did not confirm another judicial nominee all year and 
simply adjourned today, we would have treated President Bush more 
fairly and would have acted on more of his judicial nominees than 
Republicans did for President Clinton in 1995-97. In addition, the 
vacancies on the federal courts around the country are significantly 
lower than the 80 vacancies Republicans left at the end of 1997. We 
continue well below the 67 vacancy level that Senator Hatch used to 
call ``full employment'' for the federal judiciary.
  Indeed, we have reduced vacancies to their lowest level in the last 
13 years. So while unemployment has continued to climb for Americans to 
6.1 percent last month, the Senate has helped lower the vacancy rate in 
federal courts to an historically low level that we have not witnessed 
in over a decade. Of course, the Senate is not adjourning for the year 
and the Judiciary Committee continues to hold hearings for Bush 
judicial nominees at between two and four times as many as he did for 
President Clinton's.
  For those who are claiming that Democrats are blockading this 
President's judicial nominees, this is another example of how quickly 
and easily the Senate can act when we proceed cooperatively with 
consensus nominees. The Senate's record fairly considered has been 
outstanding--especially when contrasted with the obstruction of 
President Clinton's moderate judicial nominees by Republicans between 
1996 and 2001.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I thank Chairman Hatch, Senator Leahy and 
all the members of the Judiciary Committee for acting on this judicial 
nomination in a thorough and expeditious manner. I am pleased to 
recommend Mr. Kravitz to my colleagues to serve as Federal District 
Judge for the District of Connecticut.
  Mark Kravitz is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, 
Connecticut and Georgetown Law School. After graduating from law 
school, Mr. Kravitz clerked for Judge James Hunter of the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mr. Kravitz also served as a clerk for 
then-Justice William H. Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court.
  In 1976, Mr. Kravitz joined the respected law firm of Wiggin & Dana 
in New Haven, CT, where he is now a partner and heads their appellate 
practice. Mr. Kravitz's law practice has been devoted to civil 
litigation in State and Federal courts. He has been lead counsel on 
more than 60 appeals in State and Federal courts. In addition to his 
appellate and litigation practice, Mr. Kravitz has been an Adjunct 
Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law.
  Over the course of the last quarter of a century, Mr. Kravitz has 
built an excellent reputation. He has become a respected and admired 
member of the Connecticut bar and he has contributed to the larger 
community, giving his time and talents to such causes as the Guilford 
Land Conservation Trust, the Connecticut Foundation for Open 
Government, and the Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality. Mr. 
Kravitz has been listed as one of the Best Lawyers in America since 
1991. He has been elected as a fellow to the American Academy of 
Appellate Lawyers and as a member of the American Law Institute. In 
1995, Mr. Kravitz received the Deane C. Avery Award for ``advancing the 
cause of freedom of information and freedom of speech in Connecticut.''
  Recently, there has been a great deal of debate in the Senate about 
judicial nominations. I don't believe there should be any debate about 
this nomination. Mark Kravitz is the kind of nominee whom I believe the 
Framers of the Constitution had in mind when they envisioned an 
independent judiciary composed of jurists whose experience, intellect, 
and commitment to justice are unquestionable.
  I believe that Mark Kravitz possesses the intellect, the experience, 
and the disposition to be an impartial finder of fact, a faithful legal 
analyst, and a fair and just jurist. He is an outstanding lawyer, and 
given everything I know about him, I am certain that he has the 
capacity to be an outstanding judge, as well. The State of Connecticut 
is proud to have him as one of our own. I'm certain that he will serve 
his country with honor and distinction, and I look forward to his 
confirmation. Again, I commend Mark Kravitz without reservation and I 
urge my colleagues to vote to confirm his nomination.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President. I rise to support the nomination of 
Mark Kravitz, whose nomination to the U.S. District Court for the 
District of Connecticut the Senate is currently considering.
  Mr. Kravitz's confirmation will be good for Connecticut and for the 
Federal bench.
  Connecticut isn't the biggest State in the Union, but we are blessed 
to have countless principled and professional lawyers, judges, and 
legal scholars. Maybe that is because we were the first State to have a 
written constitution; maybe it is due to the gravitational tug of fine 
law schools like UConn and my own alma mater, Yale. Regardless, in a 
State filled with lawyers, it is no exaggeration to say that Mark 
Kravitz has proven himself among the best. And I have no doubt he will 
uphold the highest standards of jurisprudence on the Federal bench.
  Mark graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1972 from 
Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He later graduated from

[[Page S7679]]

Georgetown Law School, where he was managing editor of the Law Review. 
Out of law school, Mark clerked for Judge James Hunter of the Third 
Circuit Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. 
He is currently a partner at Wiggin and Dana in New Haven, where he has 
worked since 1976. He has served as lead counsel on more than 60 
appeals in State and Federal courts, and has argued before the United 
States Supreme Court.
  Mark has been listed as one of the Best Lawyers in America since 
1991. He was endorsed by the Connecticut Bar Association as 
exceptionally well qualified to be a District Judge, and has been 
unanimously rated as Well Qualified by the American Bar Association.
  Forgive the pun, but this is an open and shut case. Mark Kravitz has 
the intellect, the independence, and the integrity to do this job and 
do it well. I am confident he will carefully read and apply the laws of 
the United States in Federal court, abiding only by the law-not by any 
ideology, passion, or prejudice. He will be an exemplary judge. I urge 
my colleagues to confirm him today.
  Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I rise today in support of Mark. R. 
Kravitz to be a United States District Judge for the District of 
Connecticut. I am confident that with his accomplishments and 
experience, Mr. Kravitz will make an excellent Federal judge. After 
graduating from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was managing 
editor of the Georgetown Law Journal, Mr. Kravitz clerked for the 
Honorable James Hunter III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third 
Circuit. He then went on to clerk for the Honorable William H. 
Rehnquist on the U.S. Supreme Court.
  Mr. Kravitz has spent the bulk of his legal career at the firm of 
Wiggin & Dana in New Haven, CT, where he is currently a partner. He 
also serves as an adjunct professor of law at the University of 
Connecticut School of Law and has also been a visiting lecturer at Yale 
University Law School. For the past 12 years, Mr. Kravitz has been 
recognized in the publication ``The Best Lawyers in America.'' He 
enjoys the support of both home State Democrat Senators and was 
unanimously approved by the Judiciary Committee. I urge my colleagues 
to vote in favor of this exceptional nominee.
  I yield back our remaining time.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I yield back the remaining time.
  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 nominatin 
of Mark R. Kravitz, of Connecticut, to be United States District Judge 
for the District of Connecticut? The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. 
Fitzgerald) is necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. 
Hollings) and the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) are 
necessarily absent.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``Yea''.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 97, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 217 Ex.]

                                YEAS--97

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

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Fitzgerald
     Hollings
     Kerry
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the President will 
be notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________