[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.