[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 1, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6263-S6264]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE SESSION
______
NOMINATION OF F. DENNIS SAYLOR IV TO BE U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now
go into executive session and proceed to the nomination of F. Dennis
Saylor IV, of Massachusetts, which the clerk will report.
The journal clerk read the nomination of F. Dennis Saylor IV, of
Massachusetts, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of
Massachusetts.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased to speak in support of F.
Dennis Saylor, nominated to the United States District Court for the
District of Massachusetts.
Mr. Saylor is a highly regarded litigator with a history of public
service. Upon graduating from Harvard Law School, Mr. Saylor joined the
law firm of Goodwin Proctor where he worked for several years before
joining the United States Attorney's Office for the District of
Massachusetts.
He left his Assistant U.S. Attorney position in 1990 to serve as the
Special Counsel and Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General
here in Washington, D.C. In 1993, Mr. Saylor rejoined Goodwin Proctor
as a partner where he remains to this day.
This highly respected attorney has focused much of his professional
career on criminal matters, however--as his record illustrates--he has
distinguished himself on the civil side as well.
Mr. Saylor will bring 20 years of legal experience and sharp acumen
to the Federal bench. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting his
nomination.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, we vote to confirm another district
court nominee of President Bush, Frank Dennis Saylor, IV, to the U.S.
District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Mr. Saylor is a
partner at the firm of Procter Goodwin. He is supported by both of his
home-State Senators, who deserve much credit for his confirmation
today.
Today's confirmation will make the 77th judge confirmed this Congress
and the 177th judicial nominee named by this President to be confirmed
by the Senate. We confirmed 100 in the 17 months that Democrats led the
Senate. We are now confirming the 77th in the other 24 months that have
transpired during this most divisive presidency.
With 77 judicial confirmations this Congress, the Senate has
confirmed more Federal judges than were confirmed during the entire 2
years of 1995 and 1996, when Republicans controlled the Senate and
President Clinton was in the White House. It also exceeds the two-year
total for the last 2 years of the Clinton administration in 1999 and
2000, when Republicans controlled the Senate. So, we have exceeded the
totals for the last two Congresses leading up to presidential
elections.
With 177 total confirmations for President Bush in 3\1/2\ years, the
Senate has confirmed more lifetime judicial appointees of this
President than were allowed to be confirmed in President Clinton's
entire term from 1997 through 2000. We have already surpassed the
number of judicial confirmations during President Reagan's entire term
from 1981 through 1984, and he is acknowledged to have appointed more
Federal judges than any other President in our history.
Democratic support for the confirmation of Mr. Saylor, an active
Republican who was championed by Republican Governor Mitt Romney for
the bench, is yet another example of our extraordinary cooperation. Mr.
Saylor's Republican credentials are not in doubt--he was even on some
short lists for Bush Administration Executive Branch positions. We take
into account his experience and his career as a litigator who has
served as both a Federal prosecutor and a defender of those accused of
crimes.
I congratulate Mr. Saylor, his wife, Catherine Adams Fiske, who is an
attorney with the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the
Department of Justice, and their family on his confirmation today.
While this confirmation is another demonstration of good faith and
cooperation by Democratic Senators, we, again, see partisan Republicans
seeking confrontation. Last week, the President used his recess
appointment powers to place Republicans on what should be bipartisan
boards and commissions. A good example is the U.S. Parole Commission.
While Isaac Fullwood's nomination is being bottled up by Republicans,
the President proceeds to recess appoint Deborah Spagnoli. In addition,
the President has yet to follow through on Democratic recommendations
to longstanding vacancies on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. This week
Republicans on the Judiciary Committee will end the short-lived
cooperation on judicial nominations and force votes and hearings on
controversial nominees, apparently in response to pressure from the
right wing of the Republican Party. Republicans are insisting that the
Committee break with tradition and proceed on judicial nominees opposed
by home-state Senators.
Thus, while this nomination marks historic progress in Democratic
Senators' cooperation with the White House, partisan Republicans refuse
to take yes for an answer and insist on ignoring the progress that we
have made. We have treated President Bush's judicial nominees far more
fairly than Republicans treated President Clinton's. Still, no good
deed we do goes unpunished.
Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination
of F. Dennis Saylor IV, of Massachusetts, to be U.S. District Judge for
the District of Massachusetts. On this question, the yeas and nays have
been ordered, and the clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from Kentucky (Mr.
[[Page S6264]]
Bunning), the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Campbell), and the Senator
from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski) are necessarily absent.
I further announce that if present and voting the Senator from
Kentucky (Mr. Bunning) would vote ``yea''.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Baucus), 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 Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), the
Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Lautenberg), and the Senator from Maryland
(Mr. Sarbanes) are necessarily absent.
I further announce that if present and voting the Senator from Iowa
(Mr. Harkin) would vote ``yea''.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). Are there any other Senators
in the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 104 Ex.]
YEAS--89
Akaka
Alexander
Allard
Allen
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Burns
Byrd
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
Inhofe
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Miller
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Nickles
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Santorum
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Sununu
Talent
Thomas
Voinovich
Warner
Wyden
NOT VOTING--11
Baucus
Bunning
Campbell
Corzine
Edwards
Graham (FL)
Harkin
Kerry
Lautenberg
Murkowski
Sarbanes
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the President shall
be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
(At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to
be printed in the Record.)
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I regret that I was necessarily
absent for the vote on the nomination of Dennis Saylor to the District
Court for the District of Massachusetts. Had I been present I would
have voted ``yea'' to confirm Mr. Saylor.
____________________