[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 25, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5861-S5862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NOMINATION OF WILLIAM MYERS

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, now that we have established the ``new'' 
guidelines--which have always been there--confirming or rejecting the 
appointment of judges to the Federal appellate courts, I have come to 
the floor today to speak in support of William Myers, who is the 
President's nominee to the Ninth Judicial Circuit. He, as nominees 
Owen, Brown, and Pryor, deserves a straight up-or-down vote on the 
floor of the Senate.
  I got a call last night from a constituent in Montana who didn't 
understand what an up-or-down vote was on the floor of the Senate. So I 
explained to her that it is a ``yea'' or a ``nay,'' and whoever gathers 
the most votes wins. That is as simple as I could put it. Of course, 
she understood.
  Bill Myers is a native of Idaho and is a highly respected attorney 
who is nationally recognized for his work. He is an expert in the area 
of natural resources, public lands, water and water law and, most 
importantly, environmental law.
  Mr. Myers has been nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 
which covers my State, along with Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, 
Nevada, Oregon and also Guam and the Northern Marianas--by far, the 
largest of all of the appellate district courts. It is huge. The 
caseload is huge. And always the caseload has burdened them to where we 
don't get a verdict very quickly in the Ninth. Most of us subscribe to 
the view that justice delayed is justice denied.
  From July 2001 to October 2003, Mr. Myers served as Solicitor of the 
Interior, the chief legal officer and third ranking official in the 
Department of the Interior. He was confirmed by the Senate to serve as 
Solicitor of the Interior by unanimous consent.
  Before coming to the Department, Mr. Myers practiced at one of the 
most respected law firms in the Rocky Mountain region, where he 
participated in an extensive array of Federal litigation involving 
public lands and natural resource issues.
  From 1992 to 1993, he served in the Department of Energy as Deputy 
General Counsel for Programs, where he was the Department's principal 
legal adviser on matters pertaining to international energy, Government 
contracting, civilian nuclear programs, power marketing, and 
intervention in State regulatory proceedings. He really earned his 
stripes there.
  Prior to that, he was assistant to the Attorney General of the United 
States from 1989 to 1992. In this capacity, he prepared the Attorney 
General for his responsibilities as chairman of the President's 
Domestic Policy Council.
  Before entering the Justice Department, Mr. Myers served 4 years on 
the staff of the Honorable Alan Simpson of Wyoming, where he was a 
principal adviser to the Senator on public land issues. Everyone, in my 
memory, remembers with great fondness Senator Simpson of Wyoming.
  Mr. Myers is an avid outdoorsman. He is a person who is totally 
committed to conservation, having served over 15 years of voluntary 
service to the National Park Service, where he did all the menial 
jobs--trail work, campsites, and visitor areas, understanding our Park 
Service and its role in American life.
  He has also received widespread support from across the ideological 
political spectrum. For example, former Democratic Governor of Idaho, 
and good friend, Governor Cecil Andrus, stated that Myers possesses 
``the necessary personal integrity, judicial temperament, and legal 
experience,'' as well as ``the ability to act fairly on matters of law 
that will come before him on the court.''

  Former Democratic Wyoming Governor Mike Sullivan endorsed Mr. Myers 
saying that he ``would provide serious, responsible, and intellectual 
consideration to each matter before him as an appellate judge and would 
not be prone to the extreme or ideological positions unattached to 
legal precedents or the merits of a given matter.''
  That is a pretty high recommendation by two outstanding Governors. By 
the way, they are Democrats and are good friends of mine.
  In addition, in 2004, Mr. Myers was endorsed by 15 State attorneys 
general, including the current Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, as well 
as the Democratic attorneys general of Oklahoma and Wyoming. These 
chief law enforcement officers stated that Mr. Myers ``would bring to 
the Ninth Circuit strong intellectual skills, combined with a strong 
sense of civility, decency, and respect for all.''
  Finally, in 2004, the Governors of Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, 
and Nevada--five States in the Ninth Circuit--strongly backed Mr. 
Myers, writing that he had the ``temperament and the judicial instincts 
to serve on the Ninth Circuit.''
  The Ninth Circuit needs more judges just to get their work done, to 
clear out the backlog. They can use some good old rural common sense on 
that bench as well. He brings that kind of common sense, that kind of 
balance, those values that are dear to the West.
  Out of the Ninth Circuit, we have seen many rulings that have been 
very troubling to most Americans and some really radical rulings. They 
are the court that ruled the words ``under God'' in the Pledge of 
Allegiance were unconstitutional. Now, to a lot of us, that doesn't 
make a lot of sense. But I will tell you, it was evidenced by the 
continual overturning of many of the Ninth Circuit rulings. That court 
has been overturned more than any court in the land.
  Bill Myers is a man of strong character, who would reestablish 
balance in the Ninth Circuit by accurately reflecting those commonsense 
values--in other words, that old country lawyer that came to town who 
understands people. He will reflect the population from those States, 
such as my State of Montana, which make up the Ninth Circuit.
  I am committed to making sure he gets the vote he deserves on the 
floor of the Senate.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Vitter). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, how much time remains?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 16 minutes 23 seconds remaining.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, we have taken one step forward in the last few days on 
our advise and consent responsibility in the Senate. I am here today to 
say we are doing the right thing by one nominee, and that is to have a 
fair up-or-down vote on Judge Priscilla Owen to be a justice on the 
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals after 4 years of waiting for this day.
  During this entire process, she has continued to serve on the Texas 
Supreme Court, demonstrating judicial temperament beyond anything I 
have ever seen. She has waited patiently, showing courage, 
determination, and a quiet spirit, the likes of which I have never seen 
before.
  This is a person who would have been confirmed by the Senate four 
times, though she has never been able to take

[[Page S5862]]

her rightful place on the bench. On May 1, 2003, she received 52 votes 
in a cloture motion; on May 8, 2003, 52 votes; on July 29, 2003, 53 
votes; and on November 14, 2003, 53 votes.
  She has waited, and she is going to be rewarded. She will get over 50 
votes, and she will take her place on the bench. Justice Owen ought to 
receive 100 votes. Anyone who has looked at her record and who has seen 
her experience knows she is a judge who does not believe in making law 
from the bench. She believes in interpreting law, trying to determine 
what the Supreme Court has said on this subject, trying to determine 
what the legislature intended, as it is her responsibility to do. To 
depict Justice Owen as a judicial activist is absolutely wrong. 
President Bush is trying to put jurists on the bench who have a strict 
constructionist view of the Constitution, who interpret as opposed to 
making laws from the bench.
  Justice Owen, as has been said so many times, has bipartisan support 
in Texas. Fifteen State bar presidents--Republicans and Democrats--have 
come out in her favor. The American Bar Association gave her a 
unanimous well-qualified rating, the highest they give. She was 
reelected to the Texas Supreme Court with 84 percent of the vote. 
Priscilla Owen has had distortions of her record. She has had 
innuendoes about what she believes, no one speaking from knowledge, and 
yet she has never lashed out, she has never shown anger or bitterness, 
always a judicial demeanor, always respect for the Senators as they 
were questioning her.
  I believe it is an important time in the Senate that we are now 
voting on someone who has been held up for four years, and I hope this 
is a time that is never repeated in Senate history. I hope we will go 
forward with all of the judges who should have the respect given to 
people willing to serve, people who have taken an appointment with the 
honest view that they can do a good job for our country and, in many 
cases, taking pay cuts to do so. I hope they will be treated by the 
Senate in the future with respect. I hope we can debate their records 
according to the different views. But in the end, I hope they will get 
an up-or-down vote, not only for these nominees, but out of respect for 
the President of the United States. Our President, George W. Bush, has 
had fewer circuit court of appeals nominees confirmed by the Senate 
than any President in the history of our country--69 percent. Every 
other President of our country has had confirmation rates in the 
seventies, eighties, and even Jimmy Carter in the nineties, and yet our 
President has not had his right under the Constitution for appointment 
of judges who would get an up-or-down vote by the Senate.
  I hope that period in the history of the Senate is at an end today. I 
hope this is the first day of going back to the traditions of over 200 
years, except for that brief 2-year period in the last session of 
Congress. I think the people of our country also agree this period 
should end. They agreed by the votes they cast for Senators who are 
committed to up-or-down votes. There were Democrats who ran on that 
platform and won, and there were Republicans who ran on that platform 
and won.
  I hope very much that today we will end a dark period in the Senate 
and return to the traditions of the past 200 years and not only confirm 
Priscilla Owen, as we are going to do today, but start the process of 
giving up-or-down votes to the other nominees who have come out of 
committee after thorough vetting and after debate of any length of time 
that is reasonably necessary to bring everything to the table and to 
the attention of the American people. In the end, every one of these 
people has reputations and experience and they deserve the respect of 
an up-or-down vote.
  Priscilla Owen, I have to say, is the perfect person to be first in 
line to break a bad period in the history of the Senate because she is 
a person of impeccable credentials. She is a person with a great record 
of experience, showing what a smart, honorable judge can be. She is a 
person who graduated at the top of her class at Baylor Law School. She 
is a person who received the highest score on the State bar exam. She 
is a person who practiced law for over 15 years and was so well 
regarded that she was asked to run for the Texas Supreme Court, and she 
did so. She is a person who was reelected with 84 percent of the vote 
and endorsed by every major newspaper in Texas. No one ever said 
anything bad about Priscilla Owen as a person. Her record has been 
distorted, but she is a person of impeccable credentials.
  I was able to talk with Priscilla in the last few days. She is so 
happy that she is going to finally have this opportunity because she 
certainly has withstood so much. This is going to be a bright day in 
her life. And Priscilla Owen deserves a bright day.
  I said in one of my earlier speeches that the classmates of her 
father at Texas A&M, the class of 1953, have a reunion every year. They 
realized at their reunion 2 years ago that one of their classmates who 
died very early had a legacy. The class newsletter came out saying, 
with a headline: ``Pat Richman's Legacy,'' and it told the story of 
Priscilla Owen. It related back to her dad in the class of 1953 at 
Texas A&M when it was an all-male school, and almost every member of 
the Corps of Cadets went into the service after graduation, as did Pat 
Richman.
  Pat Richman served in Korea. He left his sweetheart, whom he had just 
married, pregnant, as he took off for Korea. Priscilla was born while 
he was gone. He came back to see her for the first time when she was 7 
months old. Pat Richman died of polio 3 months later. His daughter, of 
course, never remembered anything about him, but he was a star in the 
class of 1953.
  When the newsletter came out, they decided to invite Priscilla Owen 
to their last reunion this spring, and she went. She told me she 
learned things about her dad she had never heard before because, of 
course, it was from the perspective of his college classmates.
  I ended that speech by saying I hope Priscilla Owen will be able to 
go to this year's reunion of the class of 1953 and that she would be 
able to go as a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judge.
  In about 2 hours, this Senate is going to finally do the right thing 
for this woman of courage, conviction, and quiet respect for the rule 
of law and for our President, quiet respect for the Senate that I do 
not think has merited that respect in her individual case, although I 
love this institution. But she does respect the institution, the 
process, and most especially the judiciary of our country. Priscilla 
Owen is finally going to be treated fairly by the Senate. I know the 
class of 1953 is going to invite her back, and I know she will attend 
as a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to once again hear 
stories about her dad, Pat Richman, a man she never met but who is so 
respected by those classmates because he was one of the class stars.
  It is time that Priscilla Owen has that opportunity. I am pleased the 
Senate is finally going to give her what is rightfully due and long 
overdue, and that is an up-or-down vote, where I am confident she will 
be confirmed. She will make America proud because she will undoubtedly 
become one of the best judges on the Federal bench in the United States 
of America.
  I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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