[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 154 (Friday, September 26, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9592-S9593]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Mary Stenson Scriven

  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I share with my colleague, Senator 
Nelson, great gratitude for the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, as 
well as Ranking Member Specter, for moving forward with judicial 
nominations. One of those is of great importance to the State of 
Florida and deals with the Middle District of Florida, where there have 
been a couple of vacancies. This is a district that continues to grow 
in population but does not have a commensurate growth in judges on the 
bench.
  I am delighted that we have moved the confirmation of Mary Scriven to 
the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Magistrate 
Judge Mary Scriven is an outstanding attorney and a terrific public 
servant. She has been serving with great distinction as a magistrate 
judge and will serve with great distinction as a U.S. district judge.
  In 1987, after earning her undergraduate degree from Duke University, 
she then went on to Florida State University College of Law, where I 
happened to have gone to law school myself. I am delighted that Judge 
Scriven and I share that bit of heritage. She then entered the private 
practice of law in Tampa with the law firm of Carlton Fields. There is 
no finer firm in Florida than Carlton Fields. Judge Scriven eventually 
became a partner there before going on to a life of public service, 
becoming a magistrate in 1997.
  In December of 1997, Judge Scriven was selected to serve an 8-year 
term as a Federal magistrate judge. She was reappointed to another 8-
year term in 2005. In her 11 years as a magistrate judge, Judge Scriven 
has proven herself to be a committed public servant. She has a 
tremendous amount of courtroom experience, both in civil and criminal 
matters, and she has put in the time and effort necessary to understand 
and fairly decide issues with little glamour but often of a critical 
nature, not only to the litigants but to the people of the State.
  I know that I echo the sentiments of those who know Judge Scriven 
when I say she reflects the necessary attributes of a jurist--
intelligence, honesty, and evenhandedness.
  I congratulate her on this great accomplishment. To her and the 
members of her family I met when she came up for her hearing--her 
mother, father, husband, and children--I congratulate the entire family 
on this tremendous accomplishment. We know the President made a good 
choice in nominating Judge Scriven to the bench. I am pleased her 
confirmation has now been accomplished.
  I also thank Senator Nelson for the cooperative way our office has 
worked on nominations. Every day, I am more and more proud of the 
Judicial Nominating Commission that our good friend Mickey Grindstaff 
chaired and of all of the fine people, lawyers and nonlawyers, from 
throughout the State who give of their time to review candidates and to 
make recommendations in a bipartisan way, trying not only to put 
somebody on the bench but to make sure we get the very best in the 
legal profession to then rise to this honored position of a Federal 
district court judge.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida is recognized.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I thank all the volunteers who 
sit on the Judicial Nominating Commission, which is an informal custom 
we set up in Florida so that we have people process applications, 
interview the candidates, and make recommendations to us for the 
vacancy. Then Senator Martinez and I will sit down with each of the 
suggestions coming from the Judicial Nominating Commission and explore 
in detail.
  Judge Scriven has been through this process three times. The last 
time, it was a jump ball for Senator Martinez and myself between two 
outstanding women candidates. The two of us had the feeling that when 
the next vacancy came up, we certainly wanted Judge Scriven to have 
that Federal judgeship. Sure enough, we happily come to the floor today 
to say congratulations to Judge Scriven. Now she is going to be Federal 
Judge Scriven. I thank her for offering herself for public service and 
for the public service she has rendered so unselfishly for so long.
  To those who have participated in the process, when we get to the 
merits, this isn't politics because of the way Senator Martinez and I 
select these judges. This is not politics. This is the merits because 
they are looked upon for their accomplishments, background, and 
judicial temperament. Then we, in collaboration with the White House 
and advising the White House before we consent, work the process. It 
has worked very well.
  We have two vacancies. I wish we could fill both vacancies, but 
Senator Martinez and I understood that in the last hurly-burly of 
trying to wrap up this session, the likelihood was that we were going 
to get only one. There is another vacancy out there we want to see 
filled very promptly at the beginning of the new Congress in January. 
Thus, the two of us will be pushing and pushing to get a nominee 
confirmed.
  Congratulations to Judge Scriven.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. If I may add a followup, now that the chairman of the 
committee is here, I wish to repeat my thanks to Chairman Leahy for the 
cooperative way in which we have been able to accomplish these 
judgeships, not only the ones for Florida but the ones throughout the 
country that are so very important. We still have a U.S. attorney that 
we are hoping in the next 24 hours we might be able to get into a 
package: Mr. Albritton for the Middle District, a longstanding vacancy 
in the U.S. Attorney's Office that needs to be filled.
  The point is to say thank you to the chairman. We appreciate his 
work. Senator Nelson and I both appreciate Judge Scriven's 
confirmation. She will serve with great distinction.
  Mr. LEAHY. If the Senator will yield for a moment, both Senators from 
Florida have talked about this, and I will not say anything different 
than what they have heard me say. They work very well, in a bipartisan 
fashion, to seek out the best possible people. I have a great deal of 
respect for both of the Senators. Because they have done that, it has 
made my job as chairman a lot easier. I look at the distinguished 
Presiding Officer from Virginia as another example because he was 
worked so well with the distinguished senior

[[Page S9593]]

Senator from that state. Again, it is a situation where there is a 
Democratic Senator and a Republican Senator. They have worked very 
closely together to try to bring the best.
  I have no problem with different parties in an, obviously, political 
position choosing partisan positions. In the Federal judiciary, which 
is supposed to be outside of partisan politics, I wish more Senators 
and Presidents--the next President, whoever it is--would look at the 
model of the Senators now on the floor. I include the distinguished 
Senator from Virginia, the Presiding Officer, in this. Seek the best 
possible man or woman for these judgeships. Let those of us in 
legislative office take care of the partisan politics. We can do that. 
But let the American people, when they walk into a courtroom, say: 
Whether I am plaintiff or defendant or whether I am rich or poor, no 
matter who I am, this judge will give me a fair trial. Win or lose, I 
will walk out knowing I had a fair trial and it was based on the facts, 
not on politics.
  I thank my two friends from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I echo how much Senator 
Martinez and I appreciate the exceptional cooperation the chairman 
extends to us. We have one more vacancy. I am not talking about the 
U.S. attorney, I am talking about one more judicial vacancy that, in 
the new Congress, we want to address immediately and see whether we can 
fill.