[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 88 (Wednesday, June 23, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7226-S7228]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE SESSION
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NOMINATION OF JUAN R. SANCHEZ TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR
THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now
move to executive session.
The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read the nomination of Juan R. Sanchez, of
Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 4
minutes of debate on the nomination equally divided.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the first nomination is Juan Sanchez. He
was born in Puerto Rico. He immigrated to the United States. This is a
great Horatio Alger's success story. He was educated at City College of
New York, bachelor's degree with cum laude. He is a graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has been in the private
practice of law and has performed community service in the Legal Aid
Society for the last 5 years. He has been a common pleas judge in
Chester County, PA.
He brings outstanding credentials and is a product of the nominating
panel organized by my distinguished colleague, Senator Santorum, and
myself.
I yield to my colleague.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I am pleased to support the confirmation
of Judge Juan R. Sanchez to the U.S. District Court, Eastern District
of Pennsylvania. I thank the President for his nomination of this
excellent candidate and to congratulate Judge Sanchez and his family.
Judge Sanchez is a cum laude graduate of the City College of the City
University of New York. He received his law degree from the University
of Pennsylvania Law School in 1981. Since 1998, he has served as a
judge on the Court of Common Pleas, 15th Judicial District of
Pennsylvania in West Chester, PA.
Judge Sanchez brings to the bench wide-ranging legal experience. He
served as a staff attorney for Legal Aid of Chester County in West
Chester, PA, from 1981 to 1983. He had a general legal practice and was
a partner with Nester, Nester & Sanchez from 1983 to 1990. He as a sole
practitioner from 1990 to 1997. Judge Sanchez also served as a senior
trial attorney at MacElree, Harvey, Gallagher, Featherman & Sebastian.
Judge Sanchez serves as an adjunct professor at West Chester
University, Immaculata University, and Villanova University School of
Law.
Judge Sanchez has served his community in numerous ways. He has
served on the board of Centro Guayacan, a multicultural educational
community center, Riverside Care of Chester County, Chester County
Hospital, the YMCA of Central Chester County and the YMCA of Brandywine
Valley, the Volunteer English Program in Chester County, and Community
Volunteers in Medicine. He has also served as a commissioner for the
Housing Authority of Chester County and as an advisor to the United Way
of Chester County. He has received several awards for his service as a
judge and his service to the community.
Again, I express my strong support for his nomination. I thank Judge
Sanchez for his willingness to serve Pennsylvania on the Federal bench.
I look forward to his approval by the Senate and urge my colleagues to
support his confirmation.
In addition to what Senator Specter said, this man has made a
tremendous contribution to the Hispanic community in Chester County and
has done a lot in the strengthening and building of that community. He
has great legal talent to go along with it. He is truly an
extraordinary person, will be an extraordinary judge, and has been an
extraordinary judge in Chester County.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I note by this vote that 20 of the 44
active Federal circuit court district judges from Pennsylvania will be
made up of nominees of President Bush. I mention this because some
think that somehow he has not been able to get a lot of nominations
through. This is a sharp contrast to the way vacancies in Pennsylvania
were left unfilled during Republican control of the Senate when
President Clinton was in the White House. Republicans denied votes to
nine districts and one circuit court nominee of President Clinton in
Pennsylvania. That was notwithstanding the very honest due diligence of
the senior Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter, who tried to get
them confirmed. Others in his party blocked a vote. I do not want to
see that happen again in Pennsylvania.
Today the Senate considers the nomination of Juan Ramon Sanchez to be
a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania. I am glad that the Republican majority has finally
decided to proceed to this well-qualified Hispanic nominee, since they
departed from the order of the Executive Calendar last week and did not
schedule a confirmation vote for Mr. Sanchez, despite the fact that he
would have received unanimous Democrat support.
Judge Sanchez has served as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas in
Chester County, PA since 1998. Prior to that, he worked for Legal Aid
of Chester County, in private practice, and as a senior trial attorney
with the Chester County Public Defender's Office. Judge Sanchez has
devoted a substantial amount of time to pro bono work in his community
and, in particular, to assisting Latino individuals and groups
[[Page S7227]]
in various legal matters, including housing, employment, and
immigration. He has also served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's
Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System and the
Racial Ethnic Bias Implementation Committee of the Judicial Council.
While some people have accused Democrats of being anti-Hispanic, our
record of confirming Hispanic nominees is excellent. Judge Sanchez is
the 18th Latino confirmed to the Federal courts in the past three
years. With the exception of Mr. Estrada, who failed to answer many
questions and provide the Senate with his writings and views, we have
pressed forward to confirm all of the other Latinos whose nominations
have been reported to the floor. Democrats have supported the swift
confirmation of 18 of President Bush's 22 Latino nominees.
While President Clinton nominated 11 Latino nominees to Circuit Court
positions, three of those 11 were blocked by the Republican Senate and
never given a vote. President Bush has only nominated four Latino
nominees to Circuit Court positions, three of whom have been confirmed
with Democratic support. President Bush's 22 Latino nominees constitute
less than 10 percent of his nominees, even though Latinos make up a
larger percentage of the U.S. population.
It is revealing that this President has nominated more people
associated with the Federalist Society than Hispanics, African
Americans and Asian Americans, combined. While President Clinton cared
deeply about diversity on the Federal bench, this President is more
interested in narrow and slanted judicial ideology. Forty-five of
President Bush's nominees to the Federal courts have been actively
involved, either as members or speakers, in the Federalist Society.
The Federalist Society is sometimes mischaracterized as a mere
debating society, but according to its own statement of purpose, it is
a group with a point of view: ``The Federalist Society for Law and
Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertarians
interested in the current state of the legal order.'' One of the goals
of the Federalist Society is the ``reordering of priorities within the
legal system.''
The administration wants to have it both ways. They want to take
credit with the Federalist Society and hard-right conservatives when
they nominate ideological nominees, but they want to pretend that
ideology does not matter. If ideology does not matter to the President,
why has he nominated more members of the Federalist Society than he has
members of minority groups? The President has shown that he is
steadfastly committed to packing the courts with individuals who will
shape the bench according to his ideological goals rather than creating
courts that are fair, balanced, independent, and reflective of the
diversity within our country.
A look at the Federal judiciary in Pennsylvania demonstrates yet
again that President Bush's nominees have been treated far better than
President Clinton's and shows dramatically how Democrats have worked in
a bipartisan way to fill vacancies, despite the fact that Republicans
blocked more than 60 of President Clinton's judicial nominees. With
this confirmation, 20 of President Bush's nominees to the Federal
courts in Pennsylvania will have been confirmed, more than for any
other state.
With this confirmation, President Bush's nominees will make up 20 of
the 44 active Federal circuit and district court judges for
Pennsylvania--that is more than 40 percent of the Pennsylvania Federal
bench. On the Pennsylvania district courts alone, President Bush's
influence is even stronger, as his nominees will now hold 17 of the 36
active seats. In other words, nearly half of the district court seats
in Pennsylvania will be held by President Bush's appointees. Republican
appointees will outnumber Democratic appointees by nearly two to one.
This is in sharp contrast to the way vacancies in Pennsylvania were
left unfilled during Republican control of the Senate when President
Clinton was in the White House. Republicans denied votes to nine
district and one circuit court nominees of President Clinton in
Pennsylvania alone. Despite the efforts and diligence of the senior
Senator from Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, to secure the confirmation
of all of the judicial nominees from every part of his home state there
were 10 nominees by President Clinton to Pennsylvania vacancies who
never got a vote. Despite records that showed these to be well-
qualified nominees, many of their nominations sat pending before the
Senate for more than a year without being considered. Such obstruction
provided President Bush with a significant opportunity to shape the
bench according to his partisan and ideological goals.
New articles in Pennsylvania have highlighted the way that President
Bush has been able to reshape the Federal bench in Pennsylvania. For
example, The Philadelphia Inquirer, observed that the significant
number of vacancies on the Pennsylvania courts ``present Republicans
with an opportunity to shape the judicial makeup of the court for years
to come.''
Like other nominees of President Bush, Judge Sanchez has been very
involved in the Republican party. He has assured me that he will be
fair to all those who come before him. I hope that he will follow the
law and treat all who appear before him fairly regardless of their
ideology or party affiliation.
I congratulate Mr. Sanchez and his family today on his confirmation.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased today to speak in support of
Juan Sanchez, who has been nominated to be a United States District
Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Judge Sanchez is exceptionally qualified for the Federal bench. He
presently serves on the Court of Common Pleas in the 15th Judicial
District of Pennsylvania, having been elected to that position in 1997.
Upon graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in
1981, he became a staff attorney for Legal Aid of Chester County. Two
years later, he joined the Chester County Public Defender's Office as a
senior trial attorney--a position that he retained until 1997. During
that period, Judge Sanchez also worked for two law firms and as a sole
practitioner, representing Spanish-speaking individuals in a wide
variety of legal areas.
Judge Sanchez has dedicated his career to serving the disadvantaged
in Chester County, PA, and his impressive credentials are reflected in
his unanimous ``Well Qualified'' rating by the American Bar
Association.
Judge Sanchez is an extremely well-qualified nominee. I am confident
that he will be a fine addition to the bench and urge my colleagues to
join me in supporting his confirmation.
Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The question is, will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination
of Juan R. Sanchez, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry)
is necessarily absent.
Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from Kansas (Mr.
Brownback) is necessarily absent.
I further announce that if present and voting the Senator from Kansas
(Mr. Brownback) would vote ``yea''.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 98, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 141 Ex.]
YEAS--98
Akaka
Alexander
Allard
Allen
Baucus
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Breaux
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
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
Miller
[[Page S7228]]
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--2
Brownback
Kerry
The nomination was confirmed.
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