[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.

                          ____________________