[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 89 (Thursday, June 24, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7403-S7405]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATION OF WILLIAM DUANE BENTON TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will state the next nomination.
The legislative clerk read the nomination of William Duane Benton, of
Missouri, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit.
Mr. BOND. Mr. President, it is a pleasure to speak in support of a
distinguished Missourian, my good friend Duane Benton, to serve on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Judge Benton is
a respected jurist and committed public servant. I am very pleased the
Senate is taking action on Judge Benton for this important position.
The Members voting on this nomination, after reviewing his many
accomplishments, will find Judge Benton to have an impressive record of
public service and an exemplary judicial record and conclude that he
will make an excellent addition to the federal judiciary.
Judge Benton currently serves on the Supreme Court of the State of
Missouri. Judge Benton was appointed to the court in 1991, and also has
served as its chief judge. Judge Benton has earned a reputation as a
judge with a distinguished intellect who has a skill for uniting his
colleagues on difficult questions. His work ethic, approach and
reasoning are highly regarded by the lawyers of Missouri.
In addition to his service on the judiciary, Judge Benton brings an
impressive breadth of experience to this position. His experience
coupled with his judicial record give him a command of a wide range of
legal matters. Judge Benton is a Certified Public Accountant--the only
CPA serving on any supreme court in the United States. Judge Benton was
Missouri's chief tax expert, serving as director of the Missouri
Department of Revenue. Judge Benton was member of the United States
Navy, serving as a judge advocate for a number of years.
Judge Benton earned his degree at Northwestern University; his law
degree at Yale University School of Law, where he also served as editor
of the Yale Law Journal; a Masters of Business Administration at
Memphis State University and a Masters of Law at the University of
Virginia.
Judge Benton has also found time to be active in the communities in
which he has lived. While his activities are too numerous to name, he
has given his time from coaching baseball to serving on the Board of
Regents for Central Missouri State University.
He retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve as a captain, after 30 years
of active and reserve duty. He is a Vietnam veteran, a member of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Navy League, the
Vietnam Veterans of America and the Missouri Military Advisory
Committee.
The U.S. Court of Appeals is truly the second most important court in
the land. Nearly every Federal case ends up before the court in some
manner. Its decisions impact every aspect of society. To these
positions, I believe it is imperative that the President nominate
people of distinguished intellect and character with a breadth of legal
[[Page S7404]]
experience. This standard has been far surpassed with the nomination of
Judge Benton. With his knowledge and experience, he will make an
outstanding addition to the Federal judiciary.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to express my strong support
for the confirmation of William Duane Benton, who has been nominated to
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Judge William Benton is an ideal nominee and is well suited for the
Federal bench. He is currently a judge on the Supreme Court of
Missouri, where he has served for 13 years, including two years as
chief justice of the court. He is highly respected by his peers, has
broad bipartisan support, and received a unanimous ``Well Qualified''
rating from the American Bar Association. Both of Judge Benton's home
State senators, Senators Bond and Talent, enthusiastically support his
nomination to the Eighth Circuit.
Before I go on, I want to note here that Judge Benton is the only
certified public accountant serving on any State supreme court in the
United States.
I would also note Judge Benton's military career. From 1975 to 1979,
he served with the U.S. Navy as a judge advocate. A Vietnam veteran,
Judge Benton retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve at the rank of Captain
following 30 years of active and reserve service.
Judge Benton has an outstanding academic record and I want to list a
few of his accomplishments: He graduated summa cum laude from
Northwestern University, where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He
then attended Yale Law School, where he distinguished himself as both
an editor and managing editor of the Yale Law Review. While on active
duty in the Navy, he attended business school at night at the
University of Memphis and received his master's in business
administration--with highest honors. And in 1995, he received an L.L.M.
from the University of Virginia.
Judge Benton has been a dedicated public servant throughout most of
his career, serving in all three branches of the Government at the
State or Federal level. He was confirmed by the Missouri Senate for
many of those positions: Director of Revenue for the Missouri
Department of Revenue; the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the
Missouri State Employees' Retirement, and Member of the Board of
Regents for Central Missouri State University. Additionally, the
governor of Missouri appointed Judge Benton to the Multistate Tax
Commission prior to his service on the bench. The Missouri Senate also
confirmed him for that position, and members from 32 other states
elected him chair of the commission. Judge Benton also served as chief
of staff to Missouri Congressman Wendell Bailey in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
In addition to his many years as a public servant, Judge Benton
maintained a law practice. During the 1980s, he had a general civil
practice representing clients such as statewide associations and
groups, small businesses, and local governments. He also represented
several Federal inmates on a pro bono basis.
Judge Benton has the support of both home State senators.
Furthermore, he has wide support from members of the Missouri bar, as
well as community organizations such as the Jefferson City Branch of
the N.A.A.C.P.
Judge Benton has a solid reputation for possessing a high level of
integrity, and for being personable and engaging. I'm sure that my
colleagues will agree that Judge Benton brings unmatchable expertise,
as well as experience to the Federal bench.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, a little more than a month ago we were able
to obtain a firm commitment from the White House that there would be no
further judicial recess appointments for the remainder of this
presidential term. That undertaking led immediately and directly to the
Senate vitiating a cloture vote and proceeding to confirm a district
court nominee from Florida. Since that time I have been urging the
Republican leadership to schedule consideration and votes on the other
two dozen nominees to be considered. They started slowly but last week
we were able to confirm nine of the judicial nominees. Today we will
act on several more.
It is unfortunate that the Republican leadership did not schedule the
debate that they know will be required before a vote on the Holmes
nomination. There remains no Democratic hold on that nomination. The
problem has been the failure of the Republican leadership to build that
debate into the Senate schedule.
I am working with the Democratic leader and all Senators to complete
action on all the other judicial nominees subject to the understanding.
In order to accommodate Senators, we will proceed with some of the
nominees by voice vote.
The facts are that Senate Democrats have been much more cooperative
with this President than Republicans were when President Clinton was in
the White House. Democrats in this Senate have shown great restraint
and extensive cooperation in the confirmation of nearly 200 of this
President's judicial nominations. We have reduced circuit court
vacancies to the lowest level since the Republican Senate leadership
irresponsibly doubled those vacancies in the years 1995 through 2001.
We have already reduced overall Federal court vacancies to the lowest
levels in 14 years, and after today we may hit a level of vacancies
achieved only once in the last 20 years with less than 30.
Today we consider William Duane Benton, the fifth of President Bush's
nominees to a circuit court we will have confirmed this year. This
should be contrasted with the number of circuit court nominees
confirmed in the 1996 session, the last year of President Clinton's
first term. That session not a single circuit court nominee was
permitted by the Republican majority to proceed to confirmation, not
one. That year only 17 judges were allowed to be confirmed and all were
to district court vacancies.
Judge Benton, who currently serves on the Supreme Court of Missouri,
is an example of the sort of nominee that President Bush ought to send
for the appellate courts. He has a reputation as a conservative, but
fair-minded judge. As an attorney he had experience in a variety of
areas of law, and on the State Supreme Court he has handled complex
criminal and civil cases. He has written a number of excellent
opinions, laying out the facts and the law with no hint of any personal
bias. Judge Benton shows a willingness to listen to all litigants and
to be fair.
I was especially struck by his fairness in death penalty cases. Far
too often judges, especially elected judges, yield to the pressure of
those who would sacrifice important constitutional principles in
capital cases. As I look at his record, I see that of the 21 published
opinions Judge Benton has written in death penalty cases, he has
affirmed 12 and reversed nine. I think it is telling that he is willing
to see beyond what are always terrible facts in these cases to ensure
that justice and important constitutional safeguards are preserved.
I hope that my praise for his work in death penalty cases will not
hurt Judge Benton's chances for confirmation. I remember not so long
ago when another judge on the Supreme Court of Missouri, now-Chief
Justice Ronnie White, was before the Senate as a nominee to a seat on
the Federal bench. Sadly, Judge White's willingness to uphold the
Constitution and ensure fair process in death penalty cases led to his
being defeated by an unprecedented party-line vote of Republican
Senators. His record was twisted and distorted for purposes of partisan
politics.
Judge White was twice nominated by President Clinton to fill a seat
on the U.S. District Court. The Judiciary Committee held two hearings
on his nomination. Judge White was introduced enthusiastically by
Senator Bond, and after each of these hearings the committee voted
favorably to report his nomination to the full Senate. Despite this
bipartisan support, however, his nomination was delayed for months and
then years. When the time finally came for a vote on the Senate floor,
Judge White was ambushed, and he was rejected in a party-line vote
during which Republicans who had supported his nomination previously
reversed position to scuttle it before the Senate.
The biggest distortions of Judge White's record were in death penalty
[[Page S7405]]
cases. His record on the whole compares favorably to Judge Benton's.
According to testimony at Attorney General Ashcroft's confirmation
hearing, Judge White voted to affirm the death penalty in 69 percent of
the cases he heard. Looking just at the opinions Judge Benton has
authored, we see him writing to affirm the death penalty 58 percent of
the time. If we factor in cases in which he did not write the opinion
but voted to affirm a capital sentence, I am sure the percentage is
higher, and approaches Judge White's record.
For opposing a capital sentence in dissent in a small minority of the
cases he heard, Judge White was vilified. Then-Senator Ashcroft took to
the Senate floor and pointed to Judge White's record in death penalty
cases as evidence that he was ``pro-criminal,'' further describing
Ronnie White as a judge, ``with a tremendous bent toward criminal
activity or with a bent toward excusing or providing second chances or
opportunities for those who have been accused in those situations.''
These were outrageous things to say about a man who had devoted his
life to the law, who had served many years on the State's highest
court, and who had voted to reverse a small number of death sentences
in order to preserve the integrity of the Constitution. When Judge
White came to testify at Attorney General Ashcroft's confirmation
hearing, Senator Specter offered him an apology for the way in which he
was treated.
I mention all of this, as I said, because it provides such a stark
contrast to the treatment that Judge Benton has gotten throughout his
confirmation process. I doubt anyone will look at the nine cases in
which he wrote to reverse a death penalty--50 percent more cases than
those Judge White voted to reverse--and accuse him of being ``pro-
criminal''. I will be surprised if, because he has found reversible
error in the imposition of nine different death sentences, each one
involving terrible crimes and horrific facts, any Member of this Senate
will accuse him of having a ``tremendous bent toward criminal
activity.'' I will be shocked if, because he exercised his best
judgment and followed the law as he understood it, he will be vilified
and humiliated in a sneak attack in the manner that Judge Ronnie White
was treated.
Of course, none of that should happen to Judge Benton, just as none
of that should have happened to Judge White. I hope that one day Judge
White's name can come back before the Senate and that he can be treated
with the integrity and respect he deserves, just as we treat Judge
Benton. I will vote in favor of Judge Benton's confirmation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Shall the Senate advise and
consent to the nomination of William Duane Benton, of Missouri, to be
United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit?
The nomination was confirmed.
____________________