[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11621-S11623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 NOMINATION OF SANDRA J. FEUERSTEIN TO BE U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE 
                      EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination of Sandra 
J. Feuerstein.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Sandra J. Feuerstein, of 
New York, to be U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of New 
York.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are two minutes of debate equally 
divided on the nomination. Who yields time?
  The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I yield to the senior Senator from New 
York. These next four nominees come here with bipartisan support. As a 
result, they went through very quickly.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, this is the first of four nominees from 
New York. They are all very qualified, fine people.
  The only point I wish to make is that the administration and the 
Governor worked closely with the Senate and with me and Senator Clinton 
on these nominations. I think it shows, when there is cooperation, when 
there is true advice as part of the advise and consent process, we can 
come up with excellent nominees.
  Each one of the nominees meets the criteria I believe we should have 
in every Federal judge--legal excellence, moderation, not too far left, 
not too far right, and diversity.
  I will speak once because there are four of them, but I am proud to 
be here to vote for every one of the four nominees.
  Again, if we get cooperation, we can do this without acrimony, 
without partisanship. That is what has happened in New York.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Madam President, I yield back the remainder of my time 
and ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I rise today to express my unqualified 
support for the nomination of Sandra Feuerstein to the U.S. District 
Court for the Eastern District of New York, and to urge my colleagues 
to confirm this fine nominee.
  Justice Feuerstein has excellent academic and professional 
qualifications for the Federal bench. After her graduation from Cardozo 
Law School, she joined the clerk pool of the New York Supreme Court Law 
Department. In 1985, she was chosen to clerk for Justice Leo H. 
McGinity, an administrative judge in the New York State Supreme Court. 
In 1987, she joined the bench of the Nassau County District Court. In 
1994, Justice Feuerstein became a Justice of the New York State 
Superior Court, where she would remain for the next five years. Since 
1999, she has been a Justice on the New York State Appellate Division--
New York's highest State court.
  In addition to her proven bench experience, Justice Feuerstein is a 
highly recognized public figure. She has lent her extensive talents to 
the Nassau County Bar, various pro bono programs that she has founded 
or chaired, and many charitable organizations like the American Cancer 
Society. In the last decade, Justice Feuerstein has been the recipient 
of such awards as: Judge of the Year twice, Woman of the Year, Pro Bono 
Recognition Award, and Outstanding Committee Chairperson of the Year 
Award, to name a few. Earlier in her career, Justice Feuerstein was 
both an associated editor and editor of the Nassau Lawyer. In addition 
to her professional, charitable and publishing duties, she has been an 
adjunct professor at Hofstra University Law School since 1998.
  Justice Feuerstein possesses the qualifications, the capacity, and 
the temperament a judge needs to serve on the federal bench. I am 
pleased to support this stellar nominee.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, prior to the start of the vote, I know 
there are a number of Senators concerned about the schedule, given the 
conditions. I ask the distinguished Senator from Vermont, the ranking 
member of the Judiciary Committee, what his intentions would be with 
regard to additional rollcall votes. We anticipated taking up five 
nominations this afternoon. I have been consulting with him, and I 
really appreciate, as always, his cooperation on this matter.
  I ask if he has any intention of seeking rollcall votes on the other 
nominees who are currently pending?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, if I may respond to my friend from South 
Dakota, I assured the distinguished Senators from New York and the 
distinguished Senators from Alabama that we would have support on the 
Alabama judge, which we just voted on, and the next one is from New 
York, and we would get them confirmed.
  I have been asked by a number of Senators, both Republicans and 
Democrats, because of the weather, if there is a possibility to just 
have this next rollcall vote and do the remaining three by voice vote. 
I would have no objection. Would that be the last vote of the day?
  Mr. SANTORUM. Madam President, I do not think the leader is prepared 
to say that yet.
  Mr. LEAHY. If we are going to have more votes, we might as well go 
ahead.
  Mr. SANTORUM. I don't know. We will discuss it with the leader.
  Mr. LEAHY. Why don't we go forward with this vote. If the decision is 
made that there will be no further rollcall votes while we are voting 
on this next

[[Page S11622]]

nomination, then I will not ask for rollcall votes on the remaining 
three nominations.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. LEAHY. The Senator from South Dakota has the floor.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I will consult with the majority leader 
with regard to his intention for additional rollcall votes, and we can 
continue our discussion following this vote. I think we ought to 
proceed with the vote.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, if the distinguished Democratic leader 
and the distinguished Republican leader do not intend to have any more 
rollcall votes, I certainly am not going to ask for any more rollcall 
votes on the remaining judges.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Sandra J. Feuerstein, of New York, to be 
United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York? The 
yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from Utah (Mr. Hatch) is 
necessarily absent.
  I further announce that the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Smith) is absent 
because of a death in the family.
  I further announce that if present and voting the Senator from Utah 
(Mr. Hatch) would vote ``yea''.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. 
Edwards), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Graham), the Senator from South 
Carolina (Mr. Hollings), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), 
the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman), and the Senator from 
Georgia (Mr. Miller) 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 92, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 353 Ex.]

                                YEAS--92

     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
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham (SC)
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--8

     Edwards
     Graham (FL)
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Kerry
     Lieberman
     Miller
     Smith
  The nomination was confirmed.
  Mr. FRIST. Madam President, first of all, congratulations to the 
managers of this bill. We are making real progress. We still have a 
number of amendments to look at, and discussions are ongoing. Even over 
the last several hours, while we have addressed the judges issue and 
completed debate and voting on the partial-birth abortion issue, work 
on Interior has continued. Overall, we are very pleased.
  This is really for the benefit of our colleagues to give them some 
idea of what will be happening here on the floor today, tonight, 
tomorrow, and over the next several days.
  First, we will have no more rollcall votes tonight or tomorrow or 
Friday. I start with that because I know that is what my colleagues are 
waiting to hear.
  Work will continue tonight on the Interior bill. In talking to the 
managers, a number of amendments are being considered. Debate will 
continue this afternoon and into this evening and tomorrow morning.
  We are in constant touch through the Sergeant at Arms and talking to 
FEMA about the weather conditions. Any decisions as to how long we will 
actually be in session will absolutely be focused on safety first and 
foremost. In saying that, we will be in session this afternoon and 
tonight, on Interior. We will come in tomorrow morning, and we will 
make the announcement when, but probably at 9:30 in the morning. I 
doubt that we will be on the floor all day. Again, the weather in part, 
the debate on the Interior bill in part, will determine that.
  We will not be in session on Friday.
  We will have votes on Monday, and likely multiple votes on Monday, 
since we are losing the opportunity for rollcall votes on Friday and 
Thursday and in part tonight. Business will continue, but it will mean 
that we will need to have multiple votes on Monday.
  We intend to make progress on Interior, but also would like to set 
as, really, the final--final passage on that Tuesday, at some point 
Tuesday. That means we have the amendments before us to consider, and 
if there are any other amendments, we absolutely must know about those.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I appreciate the announcement of the 
schedule by the majority leader. I will say to my colleagues, I have 
every expectation that we can complete our work on this bill on 
Tuesday. I intend to work with the majority leader to complete our work 
on the Interior bill by Tuesday. That will require Senators who have 
amendments to come to the floor for the remaining hours of today and 
tomorrow morning. I know I have one or two amendments, and I intend to 
offer them either today or tomorrow morning in order to allow those 
votes to be cast and stacked on Monday night. So there is no reason we 
cannot finish our work on this bill on Tuesday, assuming--and the 
majority leader has assured me--that we will go to another 
appropriations bill once we complete our work on this one.
  I would also want to say to my distinguished colleague who was here 
just a moment ago, the Senator from Vermont, I am, once again, grateful 
for his cooperation. He is a man of his word. He, again, had indicated 
to me, on the understanding there would be no more rollcall votes, that 
he would be willing to allow the three remaining votes on these judges 
today to be taken by voice. So I want to express for the record and 
publicly, once again, my gratitude to Senator Leahy for his cooperation 
and his understanding of the need for some Senators to catch planes 
this afternoon.

  I appreciate, again, the majority leader's comments and will work 
with him to complete the schedule.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Will the leader yield for a question?
  Mr. FRIST. Let me make one further statement and I will be happy to 
yield.
  Committee hearing decisions are being made today by chairmen. Again, 
we are going to be conducting business on the Senate floor. A number of 
chairmen called and said: Should we go ahead and cancel our hearings 
and committee meetings? That is being left to their discretion. 
Individual offices--I know a number are calling the Sergeant at Arms 
and calling our offices. We will stay in touch and we will come 
straight to the floor if there is any information in terms of safety 
that we know about as we go forward.
  These five judges are very important. I would add we have six judges 
who are also waiting, right now, whose nominations are ready to come to 
the floor and to be voted upon. I hope we can do that soon. I would 
like to be able, possibly, to do some of those on Monday. We have six 
more judges who are ready to go.
  I would be happy to yield for a question.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I would only say for the record, the 
votes today will take us to 151 judges that the Senate has cast votes 
on since this administration has come to office--151 district and 
circuit court judges. So, obviously, we are making great progress on 
those numbers.
  For the record, I want to be sure our colleagues are aware of where 
we are, where we stand with regard to the number of confirmations.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.

[[Page S11623]]

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I understand the schedule has the 
potential of finishing up on the Interior bill on Tuesday. Does the 
leadership have options after Tuesday in terms of what appropriations 
bills we might go to after Tuesday?
  Mr. FRIST. I will be happy to talk. We have been talking several days 
in advance each time. As the Democratic leader said, our intention is 
to go to appropriations and stay on appropriations. There is other 
business as we worked out to address partial-birth abortion and the 
judges. But the intention is to go to an appropriations bill. The 
specific one we don't know now. This is Wednesday. We are talking about 
a week from now. But we will stay in constant touch.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Chair.

                          ____________________