[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 58 (Thursday, April 22, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2539-S2540]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATION OF DENNY CHIN TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination which
the clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read the nomination of Denny Chin, of New York,
to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 60 minutes, equally divided, on this
nomination.
The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, yesterday the Senate was forced to devote
the entire day to so-called ``debate'' on two nominations that
Republican objections had stalled for months. The good news is, the
majority leader's filing of cloture motions to end the filibusters on
these nominations succeeded. The votes took place. Each was confirmed
with more than 70 votes, a bipartisan majority of the Senate. The
debate amounted to statements by Senators in support of the
nominations. Let me emphasize that. The only people who spoke, spoke in
support of the nominations. During the entire day, not a single
Republican Senator came to the floor to oppose the nominations, nor did
a single Senator come to the floor to explain why there have been
months of delay that left a key office of the Justice Department
without a head for the last year. None came to explain why their
objections left a longstanding vacancy in the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit.
Instead, there was silence. There is no explanation for what
continues to be a practice by Senate Republicans of secret holds and a
Senate Republican leadership strategy of delay and obstruction of
President Obama's nominations. That is wrong.
Throughout the week, a number of Senators have come before the Senate
to discuss this untenable situation. They have asked for consent to
proceed to scores of nominations that are totally noncontroversial. Yet
Republicans objected because, after all, these nominees had committed
the horrible sin of being nominated by a Democratic President. It makes
no sense. I am in my 36th year in the Senate. I have never seen anybody
treat any President, Republican or Democratic, in this way.
Pursuant to our Senate rules which were enacted after bipartisan
efforts, those Republican Senators who are objecting have an obligation
to come forward and justify those objections. I am going to be
interested to see which Senators are objecting to proceeding on 18
judicial nominees. Eighteen nominees who were reported unanimously--
every Democrat, every Republican in support of them from the Judiciary
Committee--and then they are held by these secret holds. I will be
interested in knowing what basis there is for not proceeding on those
18 nominees. In fact, I would like to know why we can't proceed to the
11 Justice Department nominees who were reported without objection--
U.S. attorneys, U.S. marshals, and Directors of important institutes
and bureaus within the Justice Department. Most of these people are
involved with critical law enforcement matters. These stalled
nominations extend back into last year, even though they had unanimous
support from the committee, Republicans and Democrats alike. Even
though most of them are in key law enforcement positions, they have
been stopped, they have been held up, they have been stalled. This is
wrong, and it should end.
Today, the Senate has another opportunity to make progress by
completing action on the long-stalled nomination of Judge Denny Chin of
New York to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which is
the circuit of the distinguished Presiding Officer and of this Senator.
The vacancy he has been nominated to fill, which has been delayed by
some anonymous Republican objection, has been classified as a judicial
emergency by the nonpartisan Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
It is not unusual. There are 40 other judicial emergency vacancies and
judges being held up. It is one of the four current vacancies in the
Second Circuit's panel of 13 judges. All are judicial emergencies.
Almost one-quarter of the court is being held vacant. That is wrong.
It reminds me of the years during the Clinton administration when
similar Republican practices led to Chief Judge Winter, himself a
Republican, having to declare the entire circuit an emergency in order
to continue to operate with panels containing only a single Second
Circuit judge. That is wrong. During that era, we had 61 pocket
filibusters of a Democratic President's judges. That is wrong.
Yesterday, Republicans insisted on 3 hours of ``debate'' before a
vote on Judge Vanaskie and another 3 hours of ``debate'' for a vote on
Professor Schroeder, but none of them came down to debate. Then they
were both confirmed by overwhelming margins. We should be thankful that
today they have insisted on only 1 hour before this long overdue vote.
I will be interested to see whether a single Republican Senator comes
to speak in opposition of Judge Chin's nomination or to explain why
they have delayed this vote for 19 weeks.
The Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to report Judge Chin's
nomination last December--all Republicans and all Democrats. None of
the Republican Senators serving on the committee opposed it--not
Senators Sessions, Hatch, Grassley, Kyl, Graham, Cornyn, or Senator
Coburn. Not one. He is an outstanding district court judge. He has the
strong support of both of his State's Senators and a number of
conservative leaders. Yet his nomination has been stuck on the calendar
since December. He has been waiting 133 days for the Senate to act.
Contrast this with the practice Democrats followed during the first 2
years of the Bush administration when we proceeded to vote on his
circuit court nominations, on average, within 7 days of their being
reported by the Judiciary Committee. Now we wait 133 days and more.
This dramatic departure from the Senate's traditional practice of
prompt and routine consideration on noncontroversial nominations has
led to a backlog of nominations and a historically low rate of judicial
confirmations, and it damages the integrity of our courts. Our Federal
system of judges has been the envy of most other countries because we
keep them out of politics. Here we are sinking them into politics.
In fact, by this date in President Bush's Presidency, the Senate had
confirmed 45 Federal circuit and district court judges. As of today,
only 19 Federal circuit and district court confirmations have been
allowed by the Republicans. This is despite the fact that President
Obama began sending judicial nominations to the Senate 2 months earlier
than President Bush did, so the Senate is way behind the pace we set
during the Bush administration.
In the second half of 2001 and through 2002 the Senate confirmed 100
of President Bush's judicial nominees. Given Republican delay and
obstruction this Senate will not likely achieve half that. Last year
the Senate was allowed to confirmed only 12 Federal circuit and
district court judges all year. That was the lowest total in more than
50 years. Meanwhile, judicial vacancies have skyrocketed to more than
100.
Judge Chin is a well-respected jurist who is widely celebrated for
one of his most newsworthy decisions in which he sentenced Ponzi scheme
operator Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison. He previously served
for 4 years as a Federal prosecutor, and he spent a decade as a lawyer
in private practice. You would think they would be saying: Why don't we
move forward with the man who sentenced Bernie Madoff? It is almost as
if we are punishing him for going after Bernie Madoff.
In fact, Judge Chin's impressive track record garnered the respect of
former judge and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey who wrote to
the
[[Page S2540]]
Judiciary Committee: ``I believe him to be an intelligent and highly
qualified nominee, who brings to the job not only experience but also
demonstrated good judgment and skill. He . . . [has] a temperament that
has shown him to be both firm and fair.''
James Comey, a former Deputy Attorney General and the former U.S.
Attorney in the Southern District of New York, echoed this praise. ``In
a district with many fine trial judges, he was a star--smart, fair,
honest, careful, firm, apolitical, and a brilliant writer. . . .
[W]hile always in control of the proceedings, he never lost the sense
of humility that allowed him to listen to an argument with an ear
toward being convinced and to give all a fair hearing,'' wrote Mr.
Comey.
Judge John S. Martin, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, wrote
to emphasize that Judge Chin ``is an exceptionally able lawyer'' and a
``decent and thoughtful individual . . . who has earned the respect of
those who have appeared before him.''
When Judge Chin is confirmed today, he will become the only active
Asian Pacific American judge to serve on a Federal appellate court. He
was also the first Asian Pacific American appointed as a U.S. district
court judge outside the Ninth Circuit.
I cannot understand the stall of this nomination. It is time that we
get to work. Let's move the people who should be moved forward. Let's
get on with our job. After all, the American public pays us well to do
this job. They pay us to vote yes or no. They don't pay us to vote
maybe. With all of these stalls, we are saying we want to vote maybe.
Come on, let's have the guts to vote yes or no.
Today I look forward to congratulating Judge Chin and his family on
this historic achievement. I commend both Senator Schumer and Senator
Gillibrand for their persistence in supporting this important
nomination and bringing this matter to fruition. His confirmation is
long overdue.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the time
during the quorum call be charged equally to both sides, and I suggest
the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk
will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on
the confirmation of the nomination of Denny Chin to be a U.S. circuit
judge for the Second Circuit occur at 12 noon today, and that the time
until then be divided as previously ordered; further, that the other
provisions of the previous order remain in effect, and that upon
confirmation, the Senate then return to legislative session and proceed
to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak
therein for up to 15 minutes each.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the
absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.