[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5687-S5689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[[Page S5687]]
EXECUTIVE SESSION
______
NOMINATION OF FREDERICK J. KAPALA TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the hour of 11:50
a.m. having arrived, the Senate will proceed to executive session for
consideration of Executive Calendar No. 84, which the clerk will
report.
The legislative clerk read the nomination of Frederick J. Kapala, of
Illinois, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District
of Illinois.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois is recognized.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me say a few words about Judge Kapala.
Frederick Kapala has been nominated by Senator Obama and myself to be a
Federal district court judge in the Northern District of Illinois.
Judge Kapala has served with distinction as a State court judge in
Illinois for the past quarter century, and he has earned a great
reputation. It is a very positive thing to say that 99 percent of the
attorneys surveyed gave Judge Kapala a positive recommendation for his
temperament, integrity, and management skills. He had a unanimous
rating of ``well qualified'' by the American Bar Association, the
highest rating a nominee can receive. He has been judged by many to be
an excellent candidate for the Federal bench.
I have met with him personally. I have met his family. I like this
man. I think he will serve our judiciary well. I hope when we vote on
this in a few minutes he will receive an overwhelming vote of support.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I support the nomination of Judge Frederick
J. Kapala to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for
the Northern District of Illinois. Judge Kapala's career exemplifies a
strong commitment to public service. He currently serves as an
appellate judge on the Second District Appellate Court in Illinois, a
position he has held since 2001. Prior to his service on the Second
District Appellate Court, Judge Kapala was a circuit court judge for
the 17th Judicial Circuit for Winnebago and Boone Counties for 7 years.
Prior to that service, Judge Kapala was an Associate Circuit Court
Judge for the same circuit for 12 years.
After graduating from the University of Illinois College of Law in
1976, Judge Kapala became an assistant State's attorney in Winnebago
County. He made a brief foray into private practice, joining the law
firm of Pedderson, Menzimer, Conde, Stoner, and Killoren in Rockford
from 1977 to 1982.
Judge Kapala is a magna cum laude graduate of Marquette University.
He proudly served his country in the U.S. Army on both Active and
Reserve duty from 1970 to 1980.
Judge Kapala has dedicated his life and career to the public good.
Whether it was his military service or his judicial service to the good
people of Rockford and the counties of Winnebago and Boone, Judge
Kapala has served with compassion and distinction.
I am pleased to join the Senate in confirming him to the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Pennsylvania is
recognized.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I agree with the Senator from Illinois
who has spoken in support of the nomination of Judge Frederick J.
Kapala to be a U.S. district court judge for the Northern District of
Illinois. He has an outstanding academic record--graduating magma cum
laude from Marquette University in 1972, where he was Phi Beta Kappa.
He obtained his law degree from the University of Illinois, where he
was a moot court board member.
He has a professional career which is diversified and with extensive
judicial experience. From 1970 to 1980, Judge Kapala served our country
in the United States Army, on both active and reserve duty. He obtained
the rank of Captain before his honorable discharge. Upon graduation
from law school, he was assistant State's attorney--that is the
prosecuting attorney in Illinois--for 1 year. He then practiced law for
5 years. He has been an associate circuit court judge from 1982 to 1994
and a circuit court judge for 7 years, until 2001. Since 2001, he has
been an appellate court justice for the State of Illinois. He has
extensive community activities. He was rated by the American Bar
Association as unanimously ``well qualified.''
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of my
remarks, a summary of Judge Kapala's curriculum vitae be printed in the
Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. SPECTER. My sense from prior confirmation proceedings and votes
in the Senate is that Judge Kapala will receive a strong vote, probably
unanimous.
Immigration Reform
In the remaining time, I will discuss what we are doing on the
immigration bill because there have been so many inquiries.
We all know the history of the immigration legislation from the 109th
Congress. The Judiciary Committee reported out a bill. It came to the
floor of the Senate, with many amendments, and it was passed with
substantial bipartisan support. The House of Representatives had a very
different configuration on the bill. They were concerned only with the
border security, contrasted with the Senate bill, which was a
comprehensive bill.
We have had numerous meetings in an effort to structure a consensus
bill in the course of the last many weeks. For many weeks, we met on
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock, with as
many as a dozen Republican Senators present, with the Secretary of
Homeland Security and the Secretary of Commerce present. We have had
substantial White House involvement reflecting the President's
statement that he wants a comprehensive immigration reform bill. We
have spent many hours on extended meetings with Democrats. There were
half a dozen Democrats attending these meetings and a rather unique
process illustrated last week where we met for 2\1/2\ hours with a
dozen Senators being present. It is pretty hard to keep a dozen
Senators sitting in one room at one time going over a great many ideas.
We have come to an agreement on what we have called a ``grand
bargain,'' which is the outline of an immigration bill.
There is no doubt that we need to protect our borders and we have
legislated for fencing. We want to provide fencing to protect the major
metropolitan areas, and we can't have a fence for the entire length of
the border. We have proposed and are prepared to enact legislation
which would provide for 6,000 additional Border Patrol agents to bring
the number to 12,000. We are proposing very strong employer sanctions.
We do not want employment in the United States to be a magnet for
illegal immigration, and it is now technically possible to have
foolproof identification. It can be costly and we are still working
through the details, but there is no doubt we want to secure the border
and stop illegal immigration as the first item.
We are talking about triggers so that we don't move ahead to dealing
with the 11 million undocumented immigrants or dealing with a temporary
worker program until we have solved the problem of securing the border
and providing for identification so that there is a basis for using
tough sanctions on the employers. But you can't do that unless they
have a fair opportunity to know who is legal and who is illegal.
We are rejecting the idea of amnesty for the 11 million undocumented
immigrants. They are going to have to earn being on the citizenship
path at the end. It will be required that they pay taxes, have
community roots, have a substantial period of employment, and that they
learn English. We are going to do our best to deport those who have
criminal records. There is a real security risk with some of the
undocumented immigrants who have criminal records and where they do
commit crimes. It is a practical impossibility to deport 11 million
undocumented immigrants.
We are trying to structure a temporary worker program which is
temporary, coming only for the purpose of filling needs and then
returning to their in native countries. We are looking at a system so
that if there are U.S.
[[Page S5688]]
citizens, people in this country who can take the jobs, they will have
the first choice.
The majority leader has stated publicly his intention to proceed
under rule XIV and file a bill this week--perhaps tomorrow, and it will
be listed for floor debate next Monday. There is a lot of concern among
Republicans about proceeding in that way with concern that the bill
that was reported out of committee does not have widespread support and
the bill that passed the Senate does not have widespread support. And
that there is a disinclination how it will go. Nobody knows for sure,
but there is a disinclination to support a motion to proceed, raising
the possibility that there may be a filibuster there.
There is a concern in many quarters that we need more time. We have
been proceeding diligently with very extended meetings. I have to
confess there has been a fair amount of wheel spinning, but that we are
not ready to proceed next Monday on the 14th to take up the bill the
last 2 weeks before Memorial Day, as the leader has scheduled. I can
understand the majority leader's concern about moving ahead and holding
our feet to the fire to try to produce a bill but we are still working
on it. Staff worked over the weekend. There was a meeting at the White
House on Sunday. I had an extended discussion yesterday with Senator
Kennedy. Senator Kennedy met with one of the Secretaries, and we are
working at top speed.
It will certainly be preferable if we can come up with a bill that
would not have to have S. 2611, which passed the Senate last year or
the chairman's mark or the bill that came out of Judiciary. I have been
asked about this every time I step into the corridor, so I thought it
would be useful to give this brief summary, without impacting on
Senator Leahy's time. I will note that some Democratic time on the
judicial nomination was taken up by Senator Durbin earlier.
I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
Frederick Joseph Kapala, Northern District of Illinois
Judge Frederick Joseph Kapala was first nominated on
December 6, 2006. He was renominated on January 9, 2007. A
hearing was held on his nomination on March 13, 2007, and he
was unanimously reported out of the Judiciary Committee on
April 25, 2007.
Judge Kapala has truly outstanding academic and
professional qualifications.
He received his B.A. magma cum laude, in 1972 from
Marquette University where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa
and Pi Gamma Mu (social science honors). He received his J.D.
from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1976.
During law school, he participated in Moot Court and served
as a member of the Moot Court Board.
From 1970 to 1980, Judge Kapala served our country in the
United States Army, on both active and reserve duty. He
obtained the rank of Captain before his honorable discharge.
After graduation from law school, Judge Kapala served for
one year as an Assistant State's Attorney in the County of
Winnebago, Illinois before joining the law firm of Pedderson,
Menzimer, Conde, Stoner and Killoren in 1977. He practiced
both litigation and transactional law with that firm until
1982.
Between 1981 and 1982, he also served part time as a
Special Assistant Attorney General in the Illinois Attorney
General's Office, prosecuting consumer fraud cases.
As a practitioner, Judge Kapala tried over 100 cases to
verdict.
In 1982, Judge Kapala was first appointed to the state
court bench as an Associate Circuit Court Judge for the 17th
Judicial Circuit, a state trial court. While serving in this
office, he was presiding judge of the juvenile court in
Winnebago County from 1989 until 1991.
In 1994, Judge Kapala was first elected a full Circuit
Court Judge in the same circuit, and since then, he has been
re-elected twice. During his tenure in this capacity, Judge
Kapala was appointed as the presiding judge of the criminal
court division in Winnebago County from 1995 until 2001. In
2001, he was assigned to serve as a Judge of the Appellate
Court of Illinois, Second District.
The ABA unanimously rated Mr. Kapala as ``Well Qualified.''
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, how much time does the Senator from Vermont
have?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont is recognized for 6
minutes.
(The remarks of Mr. Leahy pertaining to the introduction of S. 1327
and S. 1328 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on
Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, we are making significant progress today
with another confirmation of a lifetime appointment to the Federal
bench. I am sure Frederick J. Kapala will be confirmed for the District
Court for the Northern District of Illinois. His nomination is
supported by the home State Senators. I thank Senator Durbin for
chairing the hearing on this nomination.
Judge Kapala serves as a state appellate judge on the Second District
Appellate Court in Illinois. He has almost 20 years of experience as a
state trial court judge. Before coming to the bench, he worked for the
Rockford, Illinois law firm of Pedderson, Menzimer, Conde, Stoner and
Killoren, and he worked as an Assistant State's Attorney in Winnebago
County. Prior to his legal career, he served 10 years in the U.S. Army.
This will be the 17th judicial confirmation this year. The calendar
just turned to the month of May, it is spring, and we have already
confirmed as many judges as were confirmed during the entire 1996
session, when President Clinton's nominees were being reviewed by the
Republican-controlled Senate majority. We have done as much in May in a
Democrat-controlled Senate as the Republican-controlled Senate did in a
whole year for President Clinton. That was a session when not a single
circuit court nominee was confirmed. Of course, we have already
confirmed two circuit court nominees in the early months of this
session.
I mention this because it is somewhat frustrating to hear the gross
misstatements made by some of the Republican leaders, such as Vice
President Cheney, Mr. Rove, and others, who speak for the President on
the pace of judicial nominees. Not only is this the 17th judicial
confirmation this year, it is also the 117th judicial confirmation in
the approximately 2 years I have served as Judiciary chairman over the
past 6 years. That exceeds by more than a dozen the confirmations
Senator Hatch presided over during the 2 years he was Judiciary
chairman. It also exceeds by more than a dozen the district court
nominees confirmed during the two years he was Judiciary Chairman.
With the confirmation of Judge Hardiman to the Third Circuit earlier
this year, the total circuit court confirmations achieved during my
chairmanships, which have not yet extended over the 24 months of
Senator Hatch's chairmanship, also exceed those achieved during his. I
only mention this because if you listen to what comes down to being
total mistruths by the Vice President or others, you would think we
blocked the President's judges.
Actually, we have done far better for President Bush--far better than
when a Republican majority was here and pocket filibustered 61 of
President Clinton's nominees. It is a little known, and obviously
unappreciated, fact that during the more than 6 years of the Bush
Presidency, more circuit judges, more district judges, and more total
judges have been confirmed while I served as Judiciary Committee
Chairman than during the tenures of either of the two Republican
Chairman working with Republican Senate majorities did.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts lists 48 judicial
vacancies. Yet, the President has sent only 25 nominations for these
vacancies. Twenty-three of these vacancies--almost half--have no
nominee. Of the 16 vacancies deemed by the Administrative Office to be
judicial emergencies, the President has yet to send us nominees for six
of them.
Despite the harping and the criticism, the Judiciary Committee has
been working hard to make progress on those nominations the President
has sent to us. Of course, when he sends nominees that he knows are
unacceptable to home state Senators, it is not a formula for success.
I congratulate Judge Kapala, and his family, on his confirmation
today.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, have the yeas and nays been requested?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. No.
Mr. LEAHY. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a
sufficient second.
The question is, Shall the Senate advise and consent to the
nomination of Frederick J. Kapala, of Illinois, to be United States
District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois?
[[Page S5689]]
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden),
the Senator from Connecticut, (Mr. Dodd), the Senator from California
(Mrs. Feinstein), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson), and the
Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) are necessarily absent.
Mr. LOTT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Utah (Mr. Bennett), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), the
Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu), and the Senator from Louisiana
(Mr. Vitter).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 91, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 153 Ex.]
YEAS--91
Akaka
Alexander
Allard
Baucus
Bayh
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Brown
Brownback
Bunning
Burr
Byrd
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Chambliss
Clinton
Coburn
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Conrad
Corker
Cornyn
Craig
Crapo
DeMint
Dole
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Isakson
Kerry
Klobuchar
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
Martinez
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Obama
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Salazar
Sanders
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Tester
Thomas
Thune
Voinovich
Warner
Webb
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--9
Bennett
Biden
Dodd
Feinstein
Johnson
Kennedy
McCain
Sununu
Vitter
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the President shall
be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
____________________