[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 154 (Friday, September 26, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S9599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, at the outset, I wish to thank my 
distinguished colleague, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary 
Committee, for the committee's action in considering the judicial 
nominees and for moving ahead with their confirmations today. Senator 
Leahy is used to being generous and statesmanlike, but to confirm all 
these judges at this time, on September 26, considering the background 
of the controversies in the Senate, is an act of statesmanship. If they 
wrote a book ``Profiles in Statesmanship,'' as well as the book 
``Profiles in Courage,'' Senator Leahy would be at the top of the list.
  There has been a lot of controversy during the last 2 years of the 
administration regarding judges. Both Republicans and Democrats have 
been at fault in the last 2 years of President Reagan's administration, 
the last 2 years of President George H. W. Bush, the last 2 years of 
President Clinton, and beyond President Clinton. As I have said on the 
floor on a number of occasions, I have crossed party lines to support 
President Clinton's judges because I thought they were inappropriately 
bottled up. There is controversy now and we have moved ahead. Senator 
Leahy has been the leader, the chairman of the committee, to get the 
job done.
  There are three Pennsylvanians in the group of judges that we are 
confirming today: C. Darnell Jones, II, president judge of the 
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas; Mitchell Goldberg, judge on the 
Bucks County Court of Common Pleas; and Joel Slomsky, a distinguished 
practitioner. Three very distinguished nominees.
  I see the Senator from Colorado is on the floor, and there are two 
Colorado judges, as well as other judges, that were confirmed. I thank 
the chairman for his action taken today.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, one, I 
appreciate his kind words. He and I have been friends from our days 
when we first met as prosecutors in our jurisdictions. So I appreciate 
that.
  I also appreciate the fact that he has said privately what he has 
said publicly in thanking me. The Senators from Colorado, the Senators 
from Florida, and the Senators from Virginia have also joined with the 
Senators from Pennsylvania in thanking me for moving these nominations. 
I am sure when the Record is read that Senators from the other States 
will be aware of what we have done. But I do appreciate that. His words 
mean a great deal to me.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, a few more concluding comments. I was 
glad to yield to my distinguished colleague, the chairman of the 
committee.
  I also wish to comment briefly about the intellectual property 
enforcement bill, which is the Leahy-Specter bill. I am glad to see 
that has cleared and that the holds have been taken off, and I thank 
Senator Coburn for taking the hold off, after very extensive 
discussions, which I know the chairman has had and I have had. This is 
a very important bill for the intellectual property community to 
provide enforcement and to provide teeth so intellectual property is 
respected, giving additional powers to the Department of Justice to see 
to it that the infringement of intellectual property is acted upon 
swiftly.
  I see a number of my colleagues waiting to speak, so I yield the 
floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.


          Nominations of Christine Arguello and Philip Brimmer

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise, first and foremost, to thank the 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy, for his 
statesmanship and his hard work and leadership on the Judiciary 
Committee, as on so many issues. The ten judges that have just been 
confirmed show the kind of statesmanship he brings to this body, and I 
am very proud to be able to work with him and proud to be able to work 
with the distinguished ranking member as well.
  I wish to make a brief comment regarding two of the judges who were 
confirmed a moment ago, and they would be Christine Arguello and Philip 
Brimmer from Colorado.
  Christine Arguello is a person who was nominated by President 
Clinton, now over 10 years ago, to the district court, as well as the 
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is truly an American dream. She was 
born and raised in very humble circumstances. There was a poignant time 
where, because her father worked on the railroad, she actually lived in 
a boxcar. Yet, over time, she became a very successful student and 
ended up at Harvard Law School. She went on to have a very 
distinguished career both in the private sector and the public sector 
and served as my chief deputy attorney general during the time I served 
as the attorney general for the State of Colorado.
  She is a tenured law professor. She knows the law well, and she will 
make the State of Colorado and the United States of America very proud 
with her service on the bench of the U.S. District Court for the State 
of Colorado. So I congratulate her, and I thank Senator Leahy and 
Senator Specter for their leadership in moving that through the house.
  I wish to congratulate Phil Brimmer, who will join Christine Arguello 
in the U.S. District Court. He comes from a family of distinguished 
jurists, and he has a distinguished academic career and now over 7 
years of leadership experience within the U.S. Attorney's Office in 
Colorado, where he has been in charge of the special prosecutions unit. 
He is a lawyer's lawyer. Both Christine Arguello and Phil Brimmer will 
move the hands of justice forward in a way we can all be very proud of 
for the State of Colorado.
  I see there are two of my colleagues on the floor, Senator Bingaman 
and Senator Mikulski. I think they are waiting to speak.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.

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