[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 5, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3146-S3147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Nomination of Nancy D. Freudenthal
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be 2 minutes of debate, evenly
divided, on the nomination of Nancy D. Freudenthal, of Wyoming, to be
U.S. circuit judge.
Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I am pleased to rise in support of the
nomination of Nancy Freudenthal to serve as a judge for the U.S.
District Court for the District of Wyoming. I want to thank Chairman
Leahy and Senator Sessions and the Judiciary Committee staff for their
assistance moving this nomination through the process.
Nancy is a Wyoming native, born in Cody, and received both her B.A.
and her J.D. from the University of Wyoming.
After being admitted to the Wyoming State Bar in 1980, Nancy took a
position with Governor Ed Herschler as his attorney for
intergovernmental affairs for 8 years. She then served in the same
position for Governor Mike Sullivan for 2 years. In this capacity,
Nancy served as the Governor's representative on numerous boards,
worked extensively with the State legislature, taught at the University
of Wyoming College of Law, and served as acting administrator of the
Department of Environmental Quality in the Land Quality Division.
In 1989, Nancy was appointed by Governor Sullivan to the Wyoming Tax
Commission and State Board of Equalization, where she served as
Chairman for a 6-year term. While the State board of equalization is
tasked with the annual process of equalizing valuation of property in
Wyoming counties, the board has a main function of listening to
disputes between taxpayers and the Department of Revenue and reviewing
appeals. Nancy's experience as chairman of this board will greatly
enhance her abilities as a judge.
Since joining Davis & Cannon, LLP in 1995, Nancy has handled a wide
variety of matters, including complex mineral tax litigation,
environmental and natural resource disputes, public utility law, oil
and gas litigation, employment litigation, and commercial transactions.
She has experience at both the trial and appellate levels. Nancy is
well respected among her peers and judges in Wyoming.
I also want to mention how important this judgeship is for Wyoming.
While Senators disagree at times about specific nominees, we can all
agree that without judges in place our legal system slows down and does
a disserve to the people we represent.
Nancy Freudenthal's experiences as a private attorney and in State
government will serve her well as a district court judge. I am pleased
that her nomination has received the strong support of my Senate
colleagues.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I will support this nominee, but I should
mention again that Senate Republicans have not allowed us to vote on a
judicial nominee for almost 2 weeks.
By this date in George W. Bush's Presidency, the Senate had confirmed
52 Federal circuit and district court judges. As of today, we had only
been allowed only 20 by the Senate Republicans. Counting the recent
vote on Gloria M. Navarro this brings us just up to 21 confirmations.
There are nearly two dozen additional nominations stalled. It should
not take 2 weeks to try to get through these secret holds. When we have
people who are confirmed unanimously in the committee, then confirmed
unanimously on the floor, it is unconscionable to hold them up week
after week after week.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I am rising in support of the nominee. Any
delays that there have been have not been for this particular nominee,
nor by the Wyoming delegation at all.
This is a position that has been open now for over 2 years. The first
nominee for this position got a hearing but could not get a vote in
committee. The nomination ran out and we now have a new nominee, who is
Mrs. Freudenthal, Nancy Freudenthal, who is also the first lady of
Wyoming.
But she, in her own right, has been an attorney, has served with
three different Governors in the State of Wyoming, and does a
phenomenal job. She has her law degree from the University of Wyoming
and would make an outstanding person to fill in this roll. Both Senator
Barrasso and I are strongly in support of her and have been pushing for
her nomination since we first started.
Mr. LEAHY. Would the Senator yield? The Senator is absolutely right.
The Wyoming Senators did not hold up this nominee, but the Republican
side did.
Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, the Republican side may have been doing
things to be sure we had votes on judges, which is the same thing the
Democrats did when we were in the majority. We had to have votes on all
these. I am glad we finally got to the position of having a vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Time has expired.
Mr. ENZI. I ask everyone to vote aye.
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 Nancy D. Freudenthal, of Wyoming, to be U.S. district judge for the
District of Wyoming?
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Byrd)
and the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) are necessarily absent.
Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Utah (Mr. Bennett).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 1, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 129 Ex.]
YEAS--96
Akaka
Alexander
Barrasso
Baucus
Bayh
Begich
Bennet
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Brown (MA)
Brown (OH)
Brownback
Bunning
Burr
Burris
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Chambliss
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
Klobuchar
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
LeMieux
[[Page S3147]]
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lugar
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (NE)
Nelson (FL)
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Risch
Roberts
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schumer
Sessions
Shaheen
Shelby
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Tester
Thune
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner
Webb
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
NAYS--1
Coburn
NOT VOTING--3
Bennett
Byrd
Kerry
The nomination was confirmed.
Nomination of Denzil Price Marshall, Jr.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be 2 minutes of debate equally
divided on the nomination of Denzil Price Marshall Jr., of Arkansas, to
be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The Senator from Arkansas.
Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I am so pleased to rise in support of
Judge Price Marshall who has been nominated to fill the Federal
judicial vacancy in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Judge Marshall has enjoyed an impressive and lengthy legal career in
Arkansas, where he has served as a judge on the Arkansas Court of
Appeals since 2006.
Previously, Judge Marshall practiced law in his hometown of
Jonesboro, for 15 years, as a principal at the firm Barrett & Deacon.
He also clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Arnold from 1989 to
1991.
He graduated from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in 1985,
where he currently serves as an adjunct professor of political science.
Judge Marshall also received a degree from the London School of
Economics, and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School in 1989.
He has done a tremendous job. He is very well known in Arkansas as a
gifted appellate advocate, brilliant legal mind, and well-respected man
of integrity. I am so pleased the Senate is taking the role of moving
him forward in this capacity. I thank Chairman Leahy and the Judiciary
Committee for moving the nomination forward. I have full faith and
confidence in Judge Marshall's ability and encourage Members to support
him.
I yield to my colleague from Arkansas.
Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I don't think it is an exaggeration to say
that when our Founding Fathers laid out article III of the
Constitution, they had people such as Price Marshall in mind. He is
smart. He is hard-working. He is a family man. He is involved in his
community. He is involved in his church and in his legal profession. He
is an elected member of the Arkansas Court of Appeals. When he was in
private practice, he had a reputation as a lawyer's lawyer. I join
Senator Lincoln in giving him my highest recommendation.
I appreciate all my colleagues voting yes on Price Marshall.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination
of Denzil Price Marshall, Jr., of Arkansas, to be United States
District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas?
The nomination was confirmed.
The motion to reconsider is considered as made and tabled.
The President shall be notified of the Senate's action.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I was necessarily absent for the
votes on the nomination of Nancy D. Freudenthal to be U.S. District
Judge for the District of Wyoming and Denzil Price Marshall Jr. to be
U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. If I were
able to attend today's session, I would have supported both
nominees.
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