[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 31 (Monday, March 13, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2019-S2020]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

NOMINATION OF LEO MAURY GORDON TO BE A JUDGE OF THE UNITED STATES COURT 
                         OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). Under the previous order, the 
hour of 5:30 p.m. having arrived, the Senate will go into executive 
session and proceed to a vote on Calendar No. 520, which the clerk will 
report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Leo Maury Gordon, of New 
Jersey, to be a judge on the United States Court of International 
Trade.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this evening the Senate will consider 
another lifetime appointment to a circuit court. The nominee is Leo 
Maury Gordon, who is nominated to serve on the U.S. Court or 
International Trade. Mr. Gordon is the court's longtime clerk, and he 
is very familiar with its important work. I urge all Senators, 
Republican and Democratic, to support this nomination.
  His confirmation will bring the total number of judicial appointments 
since January 2001 to 232, including the confirmations of two Supreme 
Court Justices and 43 circuit court judges. Of course, 100 judges were 
confirmed in the 17 months that Democrats were in the Senate majority. 
In the other 45 months, 132 judges have been confirmed. Ironically, 
under Democratic leadership, the Senate was almost twice as productive 
as under Republican leadership.
  It is most regrettable that this President has not fulfilled his 
promise to the American people to be a uniter. Nor has he fulfilled his 
pledge to complete his work in advance of vacancies and to make 
nominations promptly. Judicial vacancies have grown to more than 50, 
and the White House has failed to send a nominee for more than half of 
those. Some of those vacancies have been sitting empty for more than a 
year. Over and over the White House has missed the deadline the 
President established for himself, and today, half of the judicial 
vacancies, 27, are without a nomination. One-third of those vacancies 
are already more than 180 days old, and one-third of the judicial 
emergency vacancies are without a nominee.
  If the White House would eliminate its partisan political and 
ideological litmus tests from the judicial nominations process and its 
emphasis on rewarding cronies and focus only on qualifications and 
consensus, the job of selecting nominees and our job of considering 
them for confirmation would be much easier. That is what this 
confirmation demonstrates.
  Recently we have seen the President withdraw a circuit nomination 
after information became public about this nominee's rulings in a 
number of cases in which he appears to have had a conflict of interest.
  At a minimum, this case reinforces a point about this White House's 
poor vetting process for important nominations. A number of nominations 
by this President have had to be withdrawn. Among the more well known 
are Bernard Kerik to head Homeland Security and Harriet Miers to the 
Supreme Court, which were withdrawn for different reasons. It was, as I 
recall, reporting in a national magazine that doomed the Kerik 
nomination.
  When we are considering lifetime appointments of judicial officers 
who are entrusted with protecting the rights of Americans and when we 
are reviewing important law enforcement officials, it is important to 
be thorough. Unfortunately, this White House seems more interested in 
rewarding cronies.
  Ms. CANTWELL. 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 Leo Maury Gordon to be a judge of the United States Court of 
International Trade?
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senators were necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss), the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. 
Coleman), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Craig), the Senator from Nevada 
(Mr. Ensign), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from 
Georgia (Mr. Isakson), and the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. 
Coleman) would have voted ``yea.''

[[Page S2020]]

  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senators were necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Santorum) and the Senator from Oregon 
(Mr. Smith).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Bayh), the 
Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Dayton), the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. 
Inouye), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from 
Louisiana (Ms. Landrieu), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), 
the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Mikulski), the Senator from Florida (Mr. 
Nelson), and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Rockefeller) are 
necessarily absent.
  I further announce that if present and voting, the Senator from 
Minnesota (Mr. Dayton) would vote ``yea.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 82, nays 0, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 37 Ex.]

                                YEAS--82

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Clinton
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Salazar
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--18

     Bayh
     Chambliss
     Coleman
     Craig
     Dayton
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Landrieu
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Nelson (FL)
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Smith
  The nomination was confirmed.

                          ____________________