[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 150 (Thursday, October 4, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12753-S12756]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     Nomination Of Richard A. Jones

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am honored to come to the floor today 
to speak on behalf of Richard Jones. He is a distinguished lawyer and a 
King County Superior Court judge from my home State. He is a man who 
enjoys broad bipartisan support, and he deserves a seat on the Federal 
bench.
  President Bush nominated Judge Jones to be a district court judge for 
the Western District of Washington State. He is an excellent choice. I 
am very proud to be here this afternoon to support him, and I urge my 
colleagues to support him as well.
  If you were to ask lawyers or judges in my home State about Judge 
Jones,

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some of the descriptions you would hear are, ``He is admired by 
everyone in the justice system.'' ``He gives respect, and he gets 
respect.'' ``The test of one's performance is the way they handle the 
smaller cases. Richard displays precisely that same degree of 
sensitivity to all who appear before him.''
  The Seattle Times described this nomination by saying:

       This is a lifetime appointment with no room for mistakes, 
     and we believe there is no mistake here.

  I couldn't agree more. Judge Jones has handled some of the most 
difficult cases in western Washington in the past decade and he has won 
the respect of everyone who has come before him. He presided over the 
sentencing of Gary Ridgway, who was known as the ``Green River 
Killer.'' Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first-
degree murder in 2003 and is one of the most prolific serial killers in 
American history. That would be a tough case for any judge, but Judge 
Jones earned praise for the sensitivity and dignity he showed for the 
victims of the Green River killer.
  As a result of that case--and in recognition of his long service to 
Washington State--in 2004, Judge Jones received the ``Judge of the Year 
Award'' from the Asian Bar Association of Washington, from the King 
County Bar Association, from the Washington State Bar Association, and 
from the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association.
  Judge Jones has also been praised by his peers for handling cases far 
out of the media spotlight with the same care and attention. Both 
Senator Cantwell and I assisted the President in choosing Judge Jones 
from a list of very qualified candidates. When I met him, I was so 
impressed with his sensitivity, his professionalism, and his overall 
sense of fairness. Throughout his career, Judge Jones has won high 
praise for his judicial demeanor and for the respect he shows all 
parties.
  In the courtroom, Judge Jones is known for making articulate and 
powerful statements that make clear where he stands. He clearly meets 
the standards of fairness, evenhandedness, and adherence to the law we 
all expect from our Federal judges.
  In his personal background, he graduated from Seattle University and 
the University of Washington School of Law. In private practice, 
Richard Jones successfully represented both plaintiffs and defendants 
in a variety of civil cases. As a State and a Federal prosecutor, he 
had extensive experience prosecuting criminal cases. Most recently, as 
a full-time King County Superior Court judge, Richard Jones has 
distinguished himself and won broad support.
  In addition to all of those professional responsibilities, Judge 
Jones also has been deeply involved in community activities. He served 
as a YMCA board member and mentored minority youths. He has worked in 
the community to expand opportunities for students to pursue legal 
careers by supporting youth-oriented legal programs. Judge Jones has 
shown a commitment to the people of his community, and that is one of 
the reasons why they have shown a commitment to him. Since he was first 
appointed in 1994, the voters of King County have reelected him three 
times. I know I speak on behalf of a large number of people in my 
State's legal and law enforcement community in saying that our Federal 
bench will be stronger with Richard Jones.
  It is my pleasure to be here on the floor this afternoon to support 
his nomination. He has garnered bipartisan support in my State, and I 
am confident that his record of fair and unbiased service will earn him 
a bipartisan vote on the floor of the Senate today. I urge all of my 
colleagues to support this nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, we have nominations before us for lifetime 
appointments to the Federal bench of Jennifer Walker Elrod of the Fifth 
Circuit, Roslynn Renee Mauskopf for the Eastern District of New York, 
Richard Jones for the Western District of Washington, and Sharion 
Aycock for the Northern District of Mississippi.
  The yeas and nays have not been ordered on any of these, have they?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Only the nomination of Ms. Elrod has been 
reported.
  Mr. LEAHY. But no request has been made for the yeas and nays; is 
that correct?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, for the interest of my colleagues, I do not 
anticipate--I do not intend to ask for the yeas and nays on any of 
these. I have discussed this with the distinguished senior Senator from 
Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, and I believe I am authorized to speak 
for him that he is not going to be requesting the yeas and nays.
  Mr. CARDIN. Would my distinguished chairman yield for a moment?
  Mr. LEAHY. Yes.
  Mr. CARDIN. As you know, I am going to be opposing the nomination of 
Jennifer Walker Elrod, but I will not be seeking a record vote.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from 
Maryland. I know he is going to be speaking on that nomination and 
stating his reasons for opposition, but I wanted it known by both 
leaders that I will not be requesting a rollcall vote on any of these. 
I see the distinguished senior Senator from Mississippi is on the floor 
and I have advised him of that also.
  The Senate continues, as we have all year, to make progress filling 
judicial vacancies when the White House will work with us. The 
nominations before us today for lifetime appointments to the Federal 
bench are Jennifer Walker Elrod for the Fifth Circuit, Roslynn Renee 
Mauskopf for the Eastern District of New York, Richard Jones for the 
Western District of Washington, and Sharion Aycock for the Northern 
District of Mississippi. They each have the support of both home State 
Senators. I thank Senators Murray, Cantwell, Cochran, Lott, Hutchinson, 
Cornyn, Schumer and Clinton for their work in connection with these 
nominations.

  The progress we have made this year in considering and confirming 
judicial nominations is sometimes lost amid the partisan sniping over 
the most controversial nominations.
  If the nominations we consider today are confirmed, the Senate will 
have already confirmed 33 nominations for lifetime appointments to the 
Federal bench this session alone. That is more judicial nominations 
than were confirmed in all of 2005 or 2006 with a Republican majority. 
It is 16 more confirmations than were achieved during the entire 1996 
session, nearly doubling that session's total of 17, when Republicans 
stalled consideration of President Clinton's nominations.
  Judge Elrod would be the Fourth Circuit court nominee confirmed so 
far this year. That is more than the number of President Clinton's 
circuit court nominations confirmed by this time in 1999 with a 
Republican-led Senate and four more than the Republican-led Senate 
confirmed in the entire 1996 session. That was the session in which not 
a single circuit court nominee was confirmed. That is more than were 
confirmed in all of 1993 and equals the total in 1983.
  If the nominations are confirmed today, the Senate will have 
confirmed 21 circuit court nominations and 133 total Federal judicial 
nominees in my tenure as Judiciary chairman. During the Bush 
Presidency, more circuit judges, more district judges--more total 
judges--have been confirmed in the first 24 months that I served as 
Judiciary chairman than during the 2-year tenures of either of the two 
Republican chairmen working with Republican Senate majorities.
  Today, we consider a nominee to the Fifth Circuit. During the Clinton 
administration several outstanding nominees to the Fifth Circuit were 
pocket filibustered. They included Judge Jorge Rangel of Texas, Enrique 
Moreno of Texas and Alston Johnson of Louisiana. They were pocket 
filibustered without a hearing or committee consideration. In contrast, 
the Judiciary Committee has proceeded with this nomination.
  The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts will list 44 judicial 
vacancies after today's confirmations. The President has sent us only 
20 nominations for these remaining vacancies. Twenty-four of these 
vacancies--more than 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 half of them. Of the 15 circuit court

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vacancies, 6--more than a third--are without a nominee. If the 
President would decide to work with the Senators from Michigan, Rhode 
Island, Maryland, California, New Jersey, and Virginia, we could be in 
position to make even more progress.
  We have helped cut the circuit vacancies from a high mark of 32 in 
the early days of this administration, to as few as 13. Contrast that 
with the Republican-led Senate's lack of action on President Clinton's 
moderate and qualified nominees that resulted in increasing circuit 
vacancies during the Clinton years from 17 to 26. During those years, 
the Republican-led Senate engaged in strenuous and successful efforts 
under the radar to keep circuit judgeships vacant in anticipation of a 
Republican President.
  More than 60 percent of current circuit court judges were appointed 
by Republican Presidents, with the current President having appointed 
more than 30 percent of the active circuit judges already.
  Two of the vacancies being filled today are categorized by the 
Administrative Office of the United States Courts as judicial emergency 
vacancies. With these confirmations we will have proceeded to fill 18 
such vacancies this year.
  Jennifer Walker Elrod is a judge on the 190th District Court for 
Harris County, TX, a position she has held since 2002. A native of Port 
Arthur, TX, and a graduate of Baylor University and Harvard Law School, 
Judge Elrod clerked for Judge Sim Lake on the U.S. District Court for 
the Southern District of Texas and spent 8 years in private practice at 
Baker Botts before joining the bench.
  Roslynn Renee Mauskopf has served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern 
District of New York since her 2002 appointment by President Bush. Ms. 
Mauskopf received her B.A. from Brandeis and her law degree from 
Georgetown before spending 13 years as assistant district attorney in 
the New York County District Attorney's Office and serving a stint as 
New York State's inspector general.
  Richard Anthony Jones has been a judge on the King County Superior 
Court since 1994. Previously, Judge Jones, a graduate of Seattle 
University and the University of Washington School of Law, served as an 
assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Washington, staff 
attorney for the Port of Seattle, and deputy prosecuting attorney for 
King County, also spending 6 years in private practice at Bogle and 
Gates.
  Sharion Aycock has been a state trial judge on the First Circuit 
Court District in Tupelo, MS, since 2003. A native of Tupelo, MS, Judge 
Aycock, who received her B.A. from Mississippi State University and her 
J.D. from Mississippi College School of Law, served for 8 years as 
Itawamba County prosecuting attorney, and spent time in private 
practice in Mississippi as a solo practitioner and at law firms.
  I congratulate the nominees and their families on their confirmations 
today.
  The Judiciary Committee has reported dozens of measures to the Senate 
that await action, from privacy legislation to war profiteering 
legislation to court legislation, all on a bipartisan basis. Yet we are 
stalled on several important matters.
  I have spoken before of the Republican objection to our going to 
conference to finish work on the Court Security Improvement Act, S. 
378, which the committee reported to the Senate back in March. We had 
to overcome a filibuster just to consider it. It ultimately passed the 
Senate 97 to zero. We are being prevented from going to conference to 
resolve differences with the House by Republican objection.
  I have spoken before about the War Profiteering Prevention Act, S. 
119, what has been stalled for months by unspecified Republican 
objections.
  I have spoken before about the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights 
Crimes Act, S. 535. It was reported unanimously by the Judiciary 
Committee, yet a Republican Senator objected to Senate passage this 
week.
  Similarly there is a modest bill to extend temporary judgeships in 
five districts, S. 1327. That simple bill is likewise being prevented 
from passage by a Republican objection.
  Today, I want to focus on another important measure, the School 
Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act.
  Two months ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee originated the School 
Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act of 2007, a legislative 
package that responds to the tragic deaths that occurred this past 
April on the campus of Virginia Tech. We tried to show deference to 
Governor Kaine and the task forces at work in Virginia and to 
complement their work and recommendations. Working with several 
Senators, including Senators Boxer, Reed, Specter, Feingold, Schumer, 
and Durbin, the Committee originated this bill and reported it before 
the commencement of the academic year in the hope that the full Senate 
could pass these critical school safety improvements this fall.
  Over the past 2 weeks, Senator Schumer and I have tried separately to 
pass the component of the bill designed to fix flaws in the Nation's 
background check system. Regrettably, our efforts were blocked by a 
single Senator.
  I do not think the Senate should continue to stand by and wait for 
the next horrific school tragedy to make the critical changes necessary 
to insure safety in our schools and on our college campuses. Risks of 
school violence will not go away just because Congress may shift its 
focus. In just the last few weeks we have seen tragedy at Delaware 
State and Memphis, as well as incidents in California and New York. I 
urge the Senate to move aggressively with the comprehensive school 
safety legislation.
  It includes background check improvements together with other 
sensible yet effective safety improvement measures supported by law 
enforcement across the country. Accordingly, I urge the Senate to take 
up and swiftly pass S. 2084. If we are prohibited by objection from 
doing so by unanimous consent, then let us move to it and let those 
with objections seek to amend those provisions to which they object.
  There are too many incidents at too many colleges and schools 
nationwide. This terrorizes students and their parents. We should be 
doing what we can to help. Just this past week, a troubled student 
wearing a Fred Flintstone mask and carrying a rifle through campus was 
arrested at St. John's University in Queens, NY, prompting authorities 
to lock down the campus for 3 hours.
  The next day, an armed 17-year-old on the other side of the country 
in Oroville, CA, held students hostage at Las Plumas High School, which 
also resulted in a lock-down. The students in these situations escaped 
with their lives.
  University of Memphis student Taylor Bradford was not so lucky. He 
was killed on campus this past Sunday morning in what university 
officials believe was a targeted attack. He was 21 years old. Shalita 
Middleton and Nathaniel Pew were not so lucky. They were both wounded 
during an incident at Delaware State and are still hospitalized from 
the gun shot wounds with Ms. Middleton still in serious condition. They 
are each only 17 years old.
  The School Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act responds 
directly to incidents like these by squarely addressing the problem of 
violence in our schools in several ways. The bill enlists the States as 
partners in the dissemination of critical information by making 
significant improvements to the National Instant Background Check 
System, known as the NICS system. The bill also authorizes Federal 
assistance for programs to improve the safety and security of our 
schools and institutions of higher education, provides equitable 
benefits to law enforcement serving those institutions, and funds pilot 
programs to develop cutting-edge prevention and intervention programs 
for our schools. The bill also clarifies and strengthens 2 existing 
statutes--the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act and the Law Enforcement 
Officers Safety Act--which are designed to improve public safety.
  Specifically, title I would improve the safety and security of 
students both at the elementary and secondary school level, and on 
college and university campuses. The K-12 improvements are drawn from a 
bill that Senator Boxer introduced in April, and I want to thank 
Senator Boxer for her hard work on this issue. The improvements include 
increased funding for much-needed infrastructure changes to improve 
security as well as the establishment of hotlines and tip-lines, which

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will enable students to report potentially dangerous situations to 
school administrators before they occur.
  To address the new realities of campus safety, title I also creates a 
matching grant program for campus safety and security to be 
administered out of the COPS Office of the Department of Justice.
  The grant program would allow institutions of higher education to 
apply, for the first time, directly for Federal funds to make school 
safety and security improvements. The program is authorized to be 
appropriated at $50,000,000 for the next 2 fiscal years. While this 
amounts to just $3 per student each year, it will enable schools to 
more effectively respond to dangerous situations on campus.
  Title II of the bill seeks to improve the NICS system. The senseless 
loss of life at Virginia Tech revealed deep flaws in the transfer of 
information relevant to gun purchases between the States and the 
Federal Government. The defects in the current system permitted the 
perpetrator of this terrible crime to obtain a firearm even though a 
judge had declared him to be a danger to himself and thus ineligible 
under Federal law.
  Seung-Hui Cho was not eligible to buy a weapon given his mental 
health history, but he was still able to pass a background check 
because data was missing from the system. We are working to close gaps 
in the NICS system. Title II will correct these problems, and for the 
first time will create a legal regime in which disqualifying mental 
health records, both at the State and Federal level, would regularly be 
reported into the NICS system.
  Title III would make sworn law enforcement officers who work for 
private institutions of higher education and rail carriers eligible for 
death and disability benefits, and for funds administered under the 
Byrne grant program and the bulletproof vest partnership grant program.
  Providing this equitable treatment is in the best interest of our 
Nation's educators and students and will serve to place the support of 
the Federal Government behind the dedicated law enforcement officers 
who serve and protect private colleges and universities nationwide. I 
commend Senator Jack Reed for his leadership in this area.
  Title IV of the bill makes improvements to the Law Enforcement 
Officers Safety Act of 2003. These amendments to existing law will 
streamline the system by which qualified retired and active officers 
can be certified under LEOSA. It serves us all when we permit qualified 
officers, with a demonstrated commitment to law enforcement and no 
adverse employment history, to protect themselves and their families 
wherever they may be.
  Title V incorporates the PRECAUTION Act, which Senators Feingold and 
Specter asked to have included. This provision authorizes grants to 
develop prevention and intervention programs for our schools.
  Finally, title VI incorporates the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 
2007, at the request of Senator Kennedy.
  Let us go forward and act now on this important bill. The Virginia 
Tech Review Panel--a body commissioned by Governor Tim Kaine to study 
the Virginia Tech tragedy--recently issued its findings based on a 4-
month long investigation of the incident and its aftermath. This bill 
would adopt a number of recommendations from the Review Panel aimed at 
improving school safety planning and reporting information to NICS.
  We must not miss this opportunity to implement these initiatives 
nationwide, and to take concrete steps to ensure the safety of our 
kids.
  I recognize that there is no panacea to end the sad phenomenon of 
school violence. The recent tragedies should prompt us to respond in 
realistic and meaningful ways when we are presented with such 
challenges. I hope the Senate can promptly move this bill forward to 
invest in the safety of our students and better support law enforcement 
officers across the country.
  Mr. President, I apologize to my colleagues for my voice. We seem to 
have enough matter in the air to affect it. I look forward to the fact 
that in a couple of days I will be in Vermont where the air is much 
nicer, although I do love this area. I once had a longtime resident of 
Washington, DC, sitting on the front lawn of my farm in Middlesex, VT, 
looking out over miles of valleys surrounded by mountains. You don't 
see another person, just this magnificent view. It was a clear day.
  I said to him: There, what do you think of that view?
  He said: I don't like it.
  I said: What do you mean? You came here from Washington, and you are 
seeing one of the most beautiful views anywhere in the State of 
Vermont, and you don't like it? What don't you like about it?
  He said: I don't trust air that I cannot see.
  Well, we cannot see the air there, but, boy, we can breathe it. I 
enjoy that.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania is recognized.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from 
Mississippi and then 5 minutes to the Senator from Texas.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi is recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I will yield 15 minutes to the Senator from 
Maryland following that.