[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 176 (Tuesday, December 1, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12031-S12033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

 NOMINATION OF JACQUELINE H. NGUYEN TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 
                 FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session to report the following nomination.

       The bill clerk read the nomination of Jacqueline H. Nguyen, 
     of California, to be United States District Judge for the 
     Central District of California.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont is recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I understand the Senator from California 
desires some time. I yield her 5 minutes, beginning now.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of the 
nomination of California Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Nguyen to be a 
Federal District Court Judge from the Central District of California. I 
urge her confirmation.
  Judge Nguyen is a tested judge with a track record of success as both 
a judge and a Federal prosecutor. She will be the first Vietnamese 
American on the Federal bench. Her nomination comes about this way.
  I have had, for a long time, a bipartisan judicial selection 
committee in California to advise me in recommending judicial nominees 
to the President. The committee gave Judge Nguyen its unanimous 
recommendation. Then I recommended her to the President for his 
nomination to the Federal district court. I believe she is going to be 
an excellent Federal district court judge in the Central District.
  Judge Nguyen was born in South Vietnam. She immigrated to this 
country with her family at the age of 10 during the final days of the 
Vietnam war. The Nguyens spent several months living in a refugee camp 
in Camp Pendleton, San Diego, before moving to the La Crescenta 
neighborhood of Los Angeles. She was naturalized in 1984.
  Judge Nguyen's parents worked two and three jobs at a time in Los 
Angeles, and Judge Nguyen and her siblings worked side by side with 
them, cleaning a dental office, peeling and cutting apples for a pie 
company, and finally managing the doughnut shop that their parents 
bought and owned.
  In her application to my selection committee, she explained that 
looking back on these experiences she realizes now that they were 
difficult. She wrote:

       But I nevertheless feel incredibly fortunate because those 
     early years gave me invaluable life lessons that have shaped 
     who I am today.

  She went on to graduate from Occidental College in 1987 and from UCLA 
Law School in 1991. She was in the Moot Court Honors Program.
  For the first 4 years of her career, she practiced commercial law as 
a litigation associate at the private law firm of Musick, Peeler and 
Garrett, where her caseload included complex contract disputes and 
intellectual property cases. In 1995 she left the firm to become an 
assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, 
and a very good one.
  As an assistant U.S. attorney in the criminal division, she 
prosecuted a wide variety of crimes, including violent crimes, 
narcotics trafficking, organized crime, gun cases, and all kinds of 
fraud. She spent 6 months in the organized crime strike force section, 
handling a title III wiretap investigation of a Russian organized crime 
group responsible for smuggling sex slaves into the United States from 
the Ukraine. In 2000, she received a special commendation from FBI 
Director Louis Freeh for obtaining the first conviction ever in the 
United States against a defendant for providing material support to a 
designated terrorist organization.
  The Justice Department recognized her with three additional rewards 
for superior performance as an assistant U.S. attorney, and in 2000 she 
was promoted to deputy chief of the general crimes section.
  In 2002, Judge Nguyen left the U.S. attorney's office when Governor 
Gray Davis appointed her to the Superior Court in Los Angeles, and she 
has been on that bench for more than 7 years and has presided over more 
than 65 jury trials.
  As she has said in her own words:

       I am deeply passionate about the privileges that we enjoy 
     as Americans and am committed to spending my life in public 
     service. If I am given the honor to serve as a United States 
     District Judge, I believe my experiences, work ethic, 
     maturity and judgment will serve me well.

  I could not agree more. I think Judge Nguyen will be a truly 
outstanding judge of the Federal district court and I urge my 
colleagues to support her nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont is recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I absolutely concur with the comments of 
the distinguished senior Senator from California in support of the 
nomination of Judge Jacqueline Nguyen to serve on the Federal Court in 
the Central District of California. I supported Judge Nguyen in the 
committee and I am glad we are able to act on her nomination today.
  Judge Nguyen participated in a confirmation hearing before the 
Judiciary Committee on September 23. Hers was a historic hearing at 
which, for the first time, three Asian Pacific American judicial 
nominees appeared together--Judge Nguyen, Dolly Gee and Judge Edward 
Chen. Indeed, three Asian Pacific American judicial nominees have never 
been confirmed in the same year. Of the 876 active judges serving on 
our Federal courts, only 8 are Asian Pacific American.
  We also held a November hearing for Judge Denny Chin, a well-
respected judge on the Southern District of New York, whom President 
Obama has nominated for elevation to the Second Circuit Court of 
Appeals. Judge Chin was the first Asian Pacific American appointed as a 
Federal district court judge outside the Ninth Circuit. If confirmed to 
the Second Circuit, he will be the only active Asian Pacific American 
judge to serve on a Federal appellate court anywhere in the country. It 
is unbelievable that with 179 Federal appellate court judgeships in our 
country, none are currently held by an Asian Pacific American. More 
than 14

[[Page S12032]]

years have passed since an Asian Pacific American was nominated to a 
Federal appellate court. This progress is long overdue.
  I commend President Obama for following his commitment to nominate 
men and women to the Federal bench who reflect the diversity of 
America. Diversity on the bench helps ensure that the words ``equal 
justice under law,'' inscribed in Vermont marble over the entrance to 
the Supreme Court are a reality, and that justice is rendered fairly 
and impartially.
  Judge Jacqueline Nguyen will be the first Vietnamese American to 
serve as a Federal district court judge in the United States, and the 
first Asian Pacific American woman to serve as a Federal district court 
judge in the State of California. Today is an important milestone not 
only for Judge Nguyen, the Vietnamese American community and the Asian 
Pacific American community, but for all Americans.
  Judge Nguyen, Ms. Gee, and Judge Chen were reported favorably to the 
Senate on October 15, more than 6 weeks ago. I am glad we are 
proceeding with Judge Nguyen but urge Senate Republicans to allow 
the other nominations to proceed to Senate debate and votes, as well. 
When she is confirmed, Ms. Gee will be the first female Chinese 
American Federal district court judge in the Nation. When he is 
confirmed, Judge Chen will be the first Asian Pacific American Federal 
district court judge in the history of the Northern District of 
California. Judge Chen is already the first Asian Pacific American to 
serve in that district as a magistrate judge. The American Bar 
Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has rated the 
three of them unanimously as ``well qualified,'' their highest rating.

  I thank the committee's ranking member, Senator Sessions, for his 
cooperation in securing the recent confirmations of Judge Christina 
Reiss of Vermont and Judge Abdul Kallon of Alabama before the 
Thanksgiving recess. They were confirmed 17 days after their hearing. 
That prompt action by the Senate demonstrates what we can do when we 
work in good faith. It should not take weeks for the Judiciary 
Committee to report nominations and additional weeks and months before 
Senate Republicans allow nominations to be considered by the Senate. We 
have shown what we can do.
  Following the model we have established for Judges Reiss and Kallon, 
the Senate should be able to consider and confirm all eight of the 
judicial nominations currently on the Executive Calendar awaiting final 
action by the Senate, the additional five judicial nominees included at 
confirmation hearings in November, and Justice Thompson of Rhode 
Island, who had her hearing this morning. Acting on these nominations, 
we can reach a total of 23 Federal circuit and district court 
confirmations this year. That is well short of the total of 28 a 
Democratic Senate majority worked to confirm in President Bush's first 
year in office, 2001, but better than the 9 confirmations achieved in 
the first 11 months of this year.
  This year we have witnessed unprecedented delays in the consideration 
of qualified and noncontroversial nominations. We have had to waste 
weeks seeking time agreements in order to consider nominations that 
were then confirmed unanimously. We have seen nominees strongly 
supported by their home state Senators, both Republican and Democratic, 
delayed for months and unsuccessfully filibustered. I have been 
concerned that these actions by the Republican leadership signal their 
return to their practices in the 1990s, which resulted in more than 
doubling circuit court vacancies and led to the pocket filibuster of 
more than 60 of President Clinton's nominees. The crisis they created 
eventually led to public criticism of their actions by Chief Justice 
Rehnquist during those years.
  I hope that instead of withholding consent and threatening 
filibusters of President Obama's judicial nominees, Senate Republicans 
will treat the nominees of President Obama fairly. I made sure that we 
treated President Bush's nominees more fairly than President Clinton's 
nominees had been treated. In the 17 months that I served as chairman 
of this Committee during President Bush's first term, the Senate 
confirmed 100 of his judicial nominations. We should continue that 
progress, but need Republican cooperation to do so. I urge them to turn 
away from their partisanship and begin to work with the President and 
the Senate majority leader.
  During the month of December in 2001, a Democratic-led Senate 
confirmed 10 of President Bush's judicial nominees, bringing the total 
number of nominations confirmed that year to 28. We will have to exceed 
that number this month in order to get to 20 confirmations, and a 
possible total of 23 this year. I fear that Senate Republican delaying 
tactics will, instead, yield the lowest total in modern history. If 
Senate Republicans continue their delaying tactics, the total could be 
as low as that during the 1996 session when a Republican Senate 
majority would only allow 17 judicial confirmations all session, 
including none for circuit courts.
  Today, with the confirmation of Judge Nguyen, we will finally move 
into double digits in the confirmations of Federal circuit and district 
court judges--hers is our 10th this year. Although there have been 
nearly 110 judicial vacancies this year on our Federal circuit and 
district courts around the country, only 10 vacancies have been filled. 
That is wrong. The American people deserve better.
  It has not been for lack of qualified nominees. As I have noted, 
there are seven more nominations awaiting Senate action on the Senate 
Executive Calendar and another six who have had their confirmation 
hearings and can be considered once approved by the Judiciary 
Committee. The Senate should do better and could if Senate Republicans 
would remove their holds and stop the delaying tactics.
  During President Bush's last year in office, we reduced judicial 
vacancies to as low as 34, even though it was a presidential election 
year. Judicial vacancies have now spiked. There are currently 98 
vacancies on our Federal circuit and district courts, and 23 more have 
already been announced. This is approaching record levels. I know we 
can do better. Justice should not be delayed or denied to any American 
because of overburdened courts and the lack of Federal judges.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, have the yeas and nays been requested on 
this nomination?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. They have not.
  Mr. LEAHY. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Jacqueline H. Nguyen, of California, to be U.S. district judge for 
the Central District of California?
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Begich) and 
the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Byrd) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Alabama (Mr. Sessions).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 97, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 354 Ex.]

                                YEAS--97

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennet
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brown
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Burris
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson
     Kaufman
     Kerry
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     LeMieux
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nelson (FL)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Vitter

[[Page S12033]]


     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Begich
     Byrd
     Sessions
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table.
  The President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________