[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 76 (Thursday, June 3, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6421-S6422]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   NOMINATION OF SANDRA L. TOWNES TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session for the consideration of three nominees. 
The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Sandra L. 
Townes, of New York, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern 
District of New York.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 10 
minutes equally divided between the two leaders or their designees 
prior to three consecutive votes.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased today to speak in support of 
Justice Sandra Townes, who has been nominated to the United States 
District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
  Justice Townes comes to us with an impressive record of public 
service and accomplishment. She left a successful teaching career to 
attend Syracuse University College of Law. Following her graduation, 
she went to work in the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office, 
where she had a long and successful career as prosecutor. She left the 
district attorney's office in 1987, when she was elected judge of the 
Syracuse City Court--becoming the first African American woman to do 
so. She made history again in 1999, when she became the first African 
American to be elected locally to the New York State Supreme Court. Two 
years later, Gov. George Pataki appointed her to associate justice of 
the Appellate Division of that court, where she now sits.
  I applaud President Bush for his nomination of Justice Townes and am 
confident that she will continue her outstanding record of public 
service on the Federal bench in the Eastern District of New York.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today the Senate is proceeding to confirm 
Sandra Lynn Townes to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District 
of New York. Justice Townes is currently an associate justice of the 
New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, where she has served 
for several years. She previously served as a judge in the Fifth 
Judicial District of the New York State Supreme Court. According to 
press reports, Justice Townes is the first African-American woman to 
serve on the appellate bench in New York and the first African-American 
Judge elected to the New York Supreme Court in the Fifth District. She 
was also a judge of the City Court of Syracuse from 1988 to 1999.
  Her extensive record of judicial experience commends her for this 
lifetime appointment, and I am pleased to join her home-State Senators 
in support of her nomination.
  Today's confirmation will make the 178th judicial nominee to be 
confirmed for this President. With 78 judicial confirmations in just 
the past year and a half alone, the Senate has confirmed more Federal 
judges than were confirmed during all of 1995 and 1996, when 
Republicans controlled the Senate and President Clinton was in the 
White House. It also exceeds the 2-year total for the last Congress of 
the Clinton administration, when Republicans were in the Senate 
majority. We have already exceeded the totals for the last two 
Congresses leading up to presidential elections.
  When Democrats controlled the Senate for 17 months in 2001 and 2002, 
we worked diligently to confirm 100 of President Bush's judicial 
nominees. We are now confirming the 78th in the other 24 months that 
have transpired during this most divisive presidency. With 178 total 
judicial confirmations 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.
  The Republican Senate leadership has again chosen to avoid debate of 
the nomination of J. Leon Holmes and Judge Dora Irizarry. Just so that 
there is no confusion, it is the choice of the Republican Senate 
leadership to skip those nominations.
  The Holmes nomination will take some significant debate. The 
nomination was sent by the Judiciary Committee to the floor without 
recommendation, a highly unusual circumstance. That means that there 
was not a majority vote in committee to report the nomination 
favorably. The committee disserved the Senate by not doing its job of 
fully vetting the nomination and reaching a consensus or even a vote on 
the merits.
  It is also the decision of the Republican leadership to skip the 
nomination

[[Page S6422]]

of Judge Irizarry, which has been pending on the Senate floor since 
last October. She is one of many Bush nominees with a ``not qualified'' 
or partial ``not qualified'' rating from the ABA. With the support of 
Senator Schumer, her nomination was considered and favorably reported 
by the committee. For months Democrats have been ready to vote on that 
district court nomination. The delay in considering her nomination 
since last October, a delay of 7 months, is attributable to the 
reluctance of the Republican Senate leadership to consider her 
nomination.
  It is reminiscent of the way the Republican leadership treated the 
nomination of other Hispanics. For example, President Clinton's 
nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the 2nd Circuit was delayed for 
16 months and was likewise stalled by Republicans on the Senate 
calendar for 7 months. Judge Richard Paez's nomination to the 9th 
Circuit was delayed for more than 4 years and was stalled by 
Republicans on the Senate calendar for more than 18 months alone. More 
recently, Republican Senate leadership even delayed Senate 
consideration of President Bush's nomination of Judge Edward Prado of 
Texas to the 5th Circuit for a month on the calendar, until we called 
them on it. Considering Judge Prado's nomination in a timely fashion 
would not have fit with the partisan political characterizations that 
Republicans wanted to draw of Democrats so they just left him on the 
shelf for a time.
  The Republican leadership must be accountable for its scheduling 
priorities and the delays that it is causing in the consideration of 
the President's judicial nominations.
  I congratulate Justice Townes and her family on her confirmation 
today.
  Mr. President, I thank the Senators on both sides of the aisle who 
have worked with me and others in the past few weeks to get through 
this logjam on judges.
  I yield back any remaining time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is all time yielded back?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. 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 Sandra Townes, of New York, to be United States District Judge for 
the Eastern District of New York.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL, I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. 
Campbell) is necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Baucus), the 
Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Miller) 
are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Crapo). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 95, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 108 Ex.]

                                YEAS--95

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     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 (FL)
     Graham (SC)
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     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--5

     Baucus
     Campbell
     Edwards
     Kerry
     Miller
  The nomination was confirmed.

                          ____________________