[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

                                 ______
                                 

 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.

                          ____________________