[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 93 (Monday, June 21, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5186-S5193]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE SESSION
______
NOMINATION OF MARK A. GOLDSMITH TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR
THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
______
NOMINATION OF MARC T. TREADWELL TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR
THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
______
NOMINATION OF JOSEPHINE STATON TUCKER 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 consider the following nominations,
which the clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read the nominations of Mark A.
Goldsmith, of Michigan, to be United States District Judge for the
Eastern District of Michigan; Marc T. Treadwell, of Georgia, to be
United States District Judge for the Middle District of Georgia;
Josephine Staton Tucker, of California, to be United States District
Judge for the Central District of California.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 6
p.m. will be for debate on the nominations, with the time equally
divided and controlled by the Senator from Vermont, Mr. Leahy, and the
Senator from Alabama, Mr. Sessions.
The Senator from Georgia.
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I rise briefly, and with great pride, to
commend to my colleagues the confirmation of Marc Treadwell from the
State of Georgia to be a U.S. district court judge of the Middle
District of Georgia.
Marc is all Georgian. He was born in Blackshear, and he traveled
around as the son of an Army officer. But he came back and attended
Valdosta State where he earned his bachelor's degree, and then he
graduated from Mercer University's Walter F. George Law School in
Macon.
After graduating, he came to Atlanta and, ironically, practiced law
at the firm of Kilpatrick & Cody, which represented my company for
years in Atlanta. It is one of the most distinguished law firms in the
State of Georgia.
Marc has been inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers,
and Martindale-Hubbell gave him an ``AV,'' its highest designation.
Marc now teaches at his alma mater, Mercer, and he has written more
than 50 publications for Law Reviews and other publications. He is
recognized as a leading authority and expert in Georgia evidence law.
Marc is married to his beautiful wife Wimberly. They have two sons,
Thomas and John. In addition to juggling his law practice, teaching,
and family duties, Marc finds time to be an active member of the
Vineville United Methodist Church in Macon.
It is my privilege and honor to thank Chairman Leahy and Ranking
Member Sessions for their diligence on this confirmation in the
committee.
I commend Marc Treadwell with my highest recommendation for
confirmation to the court of the United States of America.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan is recognized.
Ms. STABENOW. Like my friend from Georgia, I rise today also with
great pride to strongly support the nomination of Judge Mark Goldsmith,
to be a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Michigan.
I have known Judge Goldsmith for a long time. He is a friend and
someone for whom I have the greatest admiration both as a person and as
a judge. He is extremely intelligent. He is highly respected in
Michigan as a judge. Since joining the Oakland County Circuit Court in
2004, he has proven himself to be someone who is highly respected by
all sides. He is known for his integrity and fairness. That is
certainly what we look for as we look to these important confirmations
on the Federal bench.
After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1974, he went on
to receive his law degree from Harvard University in 1977. Before
joining the State court, he was a partner at Honigman Miller in
Detroit. He has also served as an adjunct professor of the law at Wayne
State University's law school.
Judge Goldsmith is well known in the community where he formerly
served on many boards and is someone who is known for giving back to
the community, working with the poor, and working with those who need
his help in the Detroit area. He has been recognized for his pro bono
involvement and his community work, most notably at B'nai B'rith
Antidefamation League and Forgotten Harvest, an organization that
collects surplus perishable foods from grocery stores, restaurants, and
caterers and provides them to emergency food providers in the metro
Detroit area.
The American Bar Association has given him the rating of
``unanimously well qualified,'' which is their highest rating for
judicial nominees.
He has been a judge in Michigan since 2002 when he was appointed as a
part-time magistrate hearing traffic violations and civil infractions.
In 2004, he was appointed to the Oakland County Circuit Court, which
has jurisdiction over felonies and major civil claims cases. He was
elected to that position in November of 2004 and reelected in 2006.
In the cases that have come before him, he has always been known to
be fair and impartial, willing to listen to both sides and make careful
rulings based on the law. It has been my great honor and privilege to
know him and to join with Senator Levin in making a recommendation to
the President regarding his possible nomination. We were very pleased
when President Obama chose to nominate him to the Federal bench.
I urge my colleagues to support him unanimously, as the American Bar
Association has done--again, giving him their highest rating for
judicial nominees of ``unanimously well qualified.'' I hope we will do
this soon today.
I yield the floor.
Mr. President, I ask that the time be equally divided between 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 assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to say a few
words about an excellent lawyer from Macon, GA, Marc Treadwell, who has
been nominated to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Middle
District of Georgia, the district I was privileged to practice in for
26 years.
He is a native of Blackshear, GA, but as an ``Army brat,'' he grew up
near various bases around the United States and abroad.
He is a graduate of Valdosta State University, as well as the Walter
F. George School of Law at Mercer University in Macon.
At Mercer, Marc served on the law review and was a member of the
school's prestigious Brainerd Currie Honor Society.
After graduation, Marc went to Atlanta to begin his practice of law
and returned to Macon in 1985 and has practiced in Macon ever since. He
currently is a partner with the Macon firm of Adams, Jordan &
Treadwell.
Marc has been inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers and
Martindale-Hubbell and his colleagues have given him the highest rating
available to a lawyer in the country with an AV rating.
He now teaches at his alma mater, Mercer, and has written more than
50 publications for law reviews and other publications. Marc is also
recognized as a leading authority on the evidence law in our State of
Georgia.
[[Page S5187]]
Marc and his wife Wimberly have two sons, Thomas and John. In
addition to juggling his law practice, teaching and family duties, Marc
is an active member of the Vineville United Methodist Church in Macon.
I am pleased to commend Marc Treadwell to my colleagues, and I
believe he will serve Georgians and Americans very well as a Federal
judge and will be a fine addition to the bench.
Marc gets the highest remarks from his colleagues with whom I have
talked over the last several months. I am extremely pleased to be here
today to recommend to all of my colleagues the confirmation of Marc
Treadwell to be a U.S. district judge for the Middle District of
Georgia.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to express my strong support
for the nomination of California Superior Court Judge Josephine Staton
Tucker to sit on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of
California.
Judge Tucker brings a wealth of relevant experience as a lawyer and a
judge to her candidacy for the Federal bench.
For the last 8 years, she has been a trial judge on the Orange County
Superior Court. She has managed a judicial calendar of up to 500
pending cases at a time. She has presided over trials on topics as
diverse as commercial contract disputes, negligence and discrimination
actions, felony criminal cases, and family law matters. And she has
served for 2 years on the Appellate Division of the court by special
appointment from the chief justice of California, giving her important
experience with appeals as well as trials.
Additionally, Judge Tucker brings 15 years of litigation experience
as an associate and then a partner at the law firm of Morrison Foerster
LLP.
Her work in private practice included representation of both
plaintiffs and defendants in all aspects of employment law, including
individual and class action litigation regarding employment
discrimination, wrongful discharge, trade secrets and unfair
competition, privacy, and wage and hour issues. She represented clients
before State courts, Federal courts, and administrative agencies, and
she also provided training to employers regarding compliance with
federal and state employment laws.
From 1996 to 2002, Tucker was the cochair of Morrison & Foerster's
50-lawyer employment law practice. In 2001, the Orange County Trial
Lawyers Association recognized her work by naming her their Employment
Lawyer of the Year.
Judge Tucker has also written prolifically. Her published work
includes: The California Employers Guide to Employee Handbooks and
Personnel Policy Manuals, a widely used reference book in California;
three articles and over 50 case critiques for the California Employment
Law Reporter, and 60 discussions of the law confronting employers and
employees in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Edition.
Finally, she has been active in community work, providing volunteer
services to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the Orange Coast
Interfaith Shelter, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Intercommunity
Child Guidance Center.
Judge Tucker is a summa cum laude graduate of William Jewell College,
a graduate of Harvard Law School, and a former law clerk to Judge John
Gibson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. In sum, she
is a highly qualified candidate for the Federal Court.
Judge Tucker is also well respected in the Orange County legal
community where she works. I have long used a committee process
involving local lawyers to identify the most highly qualified
candidates for the Federal courts in California. Judge Tucker was
recommended to me by my current committee after diligent research into
the quality of her work and her reputation among local lawyers. I
believe she will be a wonderful addition to the U.S. district court in
Orange County.
I thank Senator Boxer for her support of Judge Tucker, and I urge my
colleagues to vote in favor of confirmation.
I want to say briefly that while I will be very glad to see Judge
Tucker confirmed today, there is much more work to be done in
confirming the President's nominees. Let me give one example that is
important to me.
The President first nominated Magistrate Judge Edward Chen to serve
on the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California
over 300 days ago. He has been voted out of committee twice and has
been pending on the floor most recently for 137 days without a vote.
Like Judge Tucker, Judge Chen came out of my committee process. He
has excellent credentials, including 9 years as a magistrate judge, and
has strong, bipartisan support in the community he has been nominated
to serve. I understand that certain members of the minority have
concerns because Chen worked for the ACLU before becoming a magistrate
judge and because of two lines that have been excerpted from his
speeches and caricatured in the Washington Times. Chen has a long
record as an adjudicator, however, and it is available for all to
review.
He has spent 9 years as a magistrate judge and written over 200
published opinions. There has not been a single objection in committee
or on the floor to even one of his decisions.
In 2008, an impartial Federal Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Review
Panel reviewed his full record. The Panel unanimously recommended him
for reappointment. Federal prosecutors they interviewed were
``uniformly positive'' about Chen and called his rulings ``balanced''
and ``well reasoned.'' Similarly, the local civil bar called him ``well
prepared,'' ``very intelligent,'' and ``decisive.''
His reputation is stellar among the district judges he works with--
whether they are Republican or Democratic appointees. District Judge
Lowell Jensen who served as the No. 2 official in the Reagan Justice
Department said Chen's decisions ``reflect not only good judgment, but
a complete commitment to the principles of fair trial and the
application of the rule of law.''
Two bipartisan selection committees have recommended Chen for the
district court--one in the Bush administration and the committee I have
established to review candidates for the current Administration.
The American Bar Association has also unanimously rated him well
qualified.
There is a long track record that shows that Chen understands the
difference between his work as a lawyer almost a decade ago and the
work of a judge, which he has been doing for the last nine years with
great success.
It is long past time for the minority to agree to a time agreement
and for the full Senate to have an up-or-down vote on Judge Chen's
nomination.
I will be very pleased to see Judge Tucker confirmed today, and I
also believe that we should move forward to confirm other nominees
pending.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to express my strong support for
California Superior Court Judge Josephine Staton Tucker, who will be
confirmed today to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of
California. Judge Tucker was recommended to the President by my
colleague, Senator Feinstein, and will be a great addition to the
Federal bench.
Judge Tucker has had a distinguished career. After graduating from
Harvard Law School, she served as a Federal clerk for Judge Gibson of
the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Following her clerkship, she
practiced labor and employment law at Morrison & Foerster in San
Francisco and Irvine, CA, becoming a partner at the firm in 1995. In
2002, she was appointed by then-Governor Gray Davis to the Orange
County Superior Court.
I congratulate Judge Tucker and her family on this important day, and
wish her the best as she begins her tenure as a Federal judge.
Mr. President, I yield the floor. I ask that the time in the quorum
call be charged to both sides equally. I suggest the absence of a
quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk
will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. 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. Mr. President, I apologize for the voice. There is a fair
amount of pollution in the air. It will be much better as soon as I get
to Vermont at the end of the week.
Mr. President, this evening the Senate is being allowed to confirm a
few
[[Page S5188]]
more of the 26 judicial nominations that have been reported by the
Senate Judiciary Committee over the past several months, but that
continue to be stalled by the Republican leadership. We have yet to be
allowed to consider nominations reported last November. In addition to
the three nominations being considered today, there are more than a
dozen more judicial nominations that were reported unanimously by the
Judiciary Committee, and a total of almost two dozen that are being
held up without good reason. There is no excuse for these months of
delay.
The Senate Republican leadership refuses to enter into time
agreements on these nominations. Their stalling and obstruction is
unprecedented. They refuse to enter into a time agreement to consider
the North Carolina nominees to the Fourth Circuit, who were reported by
the committee in January, one unanimously and one with only a single
negative vote. They refuse to enter into a time agreement to debate and
vote on the Sixth Circuit nominee from Tennessee who was reported last
November. I have told Senator Alexander that all Democrats are prepared
to vote on that nominee and have agreed to do so since November. It is
his own leadership that continues to obstruct the nominee from
Tennessee.
The Senate is well behind the pace I set for President Bush's
judicial nominees in 2001 and 2002. A useful comparison is that in
2002, the second year of the Bush administration, the Democratic Senate
majority's hard work led to the confirmation of 72 Federal circuit and
district judges nominated by a President from the other party. In this
second year of the Obama administration, we have confirmed just 19 so
far--72 to 19.
In the first 2 years of the Bush administration, we confirmed a total
of 100 Federal circuit and district court judges. So far in the first 2
years of the Obama administration, the Republican leadership has
successfully obstructed all but 31 of his Federal circuit and district
court nominees--100 to 31. Today that number will rise, but to just 34.
Meanwhile Federal judicial vacancies around the country hover around
100.
By this date in President Bush's Presidency, the Senate had confirmed
57 of his judicial nominees. Despite the fact that President Obama
began sending us judicial nominations 2 months earlier than did
President Bush, the Senate has to date only confirmed 31 of his Federal
circuit and district court nominees--57 to 31.
Last year, Senate Republicans refused to move forward on judicial
nominees. The Senate confirmed the fewest number of judges in 50 years.
The Senate Republican leadership allowed only 12 Federal circuit and
district court nominees to be considered and confirmed despite the
availability of many more for final action. They have continued their
obstruction throughout this year. By every measure the Republican
obstruction is a disaster for the Federal courts and for the American
people.
To put this into historical perspective, consider this: In 1982, the
second year of the Reagan administration, the Senate confirmed 47
judges. In 1990. the second year of the George H.W. Bush
administration, the Senate confirmed 55 judges. In 1994, the second
year of the Clinton administration, the Senate confirmed 99 judges. In
2002, the second year of the George W. Bush administration, the Senate
confirmed 72 judges. The only year comparable to this year's record-
setting low total of 16 was 1996, when the Republican Senate majority
refused to consider President Clinton's judicial nominees and only 17
were confirmed all session.
Senate Democrats moved forward with judicial nominees whether the
President was Democratic--1994--or Republican--1982, 1990, 2002--and
whether we were in the Senate majority--1990, 1994, 2002--or in the
Senate minority--1982. Senate Republicans, by contrast, have shown an
unwillingness to consider judicial nominees of Democratic Presidents--
1996, 2009, 2010.
Over the last recess, I sent a letter to Senator McConnell and to the
majority leader concerning these matters. In that letter, I urged, as I
have since last December, the Senate to schedule votes on these
nominations without further obstruction or delay. I called on the
Republican leadership to work with the majority leader to schedule
immediate votes on consensus nominations--many, like those finally
being considered today, I expect will be confirmed unanimously--and
consent to time agreements on those on which debate is requested. As I
said in the letter, if there are judicial nominations that Republicans
truly wish to filibuster--after arguing during the Bush administration
that such action would be unconstitutional and wrong--then they should
so indicate to allow the majority leader to seek cloture to end the
filibuster. It is outrageous that the majority leader may be forced to
file cloture petitions to get votes on the North Carolina, Tennessee
and other nominees.
The three nominees being considered today were all reported
unanimously by the Judiciary Committee in March, more than 3 months
ago. They could and should have been confirmed long before now. They
are supported by their home State Senators. I congratulate them on
their confirmation today.
After these votes, there will still be 23 judicial nominees favorably
reported by the Judiciary Committee being stalled from Senate
consideration by the Republican leadership. We should change this
course, and schedule confirmation votes without further delay.
Mr. President, I realize about half the time remaining is mine. No
one else is seeking recognition.
First off, I wish to thank Senator Isakson for his kind words
earlier.
As I announced last month, the confirmation hearing on the
President's nomination of Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court will begin next Monday. On Monday, I will give each
Senator who is a member of the committee an opportunity to deliver an
opening statement. After the nominee is presented to the committee, she
will proceed with her opening statement. On Tuesday morning we will ask
questions of the nominee. I hope that we will conclude the hearing by
the end of the week, including testimony from a few public witnesses,
as has become our custom.
Over the last few weeks, I have come to the Senate floor to outline
the qualifications and achievements of the nominee, and to comment on
the attacks that have been launched against her. I have noted my
disappointment that too many Republican Senators seem predisposed to
oppose the nomination.
When he set out to find a well-qualified nominee to replace retiring
Justice John Paul Stevens, the President said this:
I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't
about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook.
It's also about how laws affect the daily realities of
people's lives--whether they can make a living and care for
their families, whether they feel safe in their homes and
welcome in our nation.
In introducing Solicitor General Kagan as his Supreme Court nominee,
President Obama praised her ``understanding of the law, not as an
intellectual exercise or words on a page, but as it affects the lives
of ordinary people.''
President Obama is not alone in recognizing the value of judges and
Justices who are aware that their duties require them to understand how
the law works, and the effects it has in the real world. Within the
last month, two Republican appointees to the Supreme Court have made
the same point. Last month, Justice Anthony Kennedy told a joint
meeting of the Palm Beach and Palm Beach County Bar Associations that,
as a Justice:
You certainly can't formulate principles without being
aware of where those principles will take you, what their
consequences will be. Law is a human exercise and if it
ceases to be that it does not deserve the name law.
In addition, Justice David Souter, who retired and was succeeded by
Justice Sotomayor last year, delivered a thoughtful commencement
address at Harvard University. He spoke about judging and explained why
thoughtful judging requires consideration of human experience and
grappling with the complexity of constitutional questions in a way that
takes the entire Constitution into account. He spoke about the need to
``keep the constitutional promises our nation has made.'' Justice
Souter concluded:
If we cannot share every intellectual assumption that
formed the minds of those who framed that charter, we can
still address the constitutional uncertainties the way they
must have envisioned, by relying on reason, by respecting all
the words the Framers wrote, by facing facts, and by seeking
to understand their meaning for living people.
[[Page S5189]]
Justice Souter understood the real-world impact of the Supreme
Court's decisions, as does, I believe, his successor Justice Sotomayor.
Across a range of fields including bankruptcy, the fourth amendment,
statutory construction, and campaign finance, Justice Sotomayor has
written and joined opinions that have paid close attention to the
significance of the facts in the record, to the considered and
longstanding judgments of the Congress, to the arguments on each side,
to the Supreme Court's precedents, and to the real-world ramifications
of the Supreme Court's decisions. She has voted to keep the courthouse
doors open in important employment discrimination and pension rights
cases.
A hallmark of real-world judging is acknowledging the challenges of
construing the Constitution's broad language given our social and
technological developments. I am talking about getting away from
sloganeering and being concrete. I appreciate Justices like Justice
John Paul Stevens, Justice David Souter and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
who are grounded, who draw on the lessons of experience and use common
sense. In the real world of judging, there are complex cases with no
easy answers. In some, as Justice Souter pointed out, different aspects
of the Constitution point in different directions, toward different
results, and need to be reconciled.
This approach to judging is not only mainstream, it is as old as the
Constitution itself and has been evident throughout American history.
Chief Justice John Marshall wrote for a unanimous Supreme Court in the
1819 landmark case of McCulloch v. Maryland that for the Constitution
to contain detailed delineation of its meaning ``would partake of the
prolixity of a legal code, and could scarcely be embraced by the human
mind.'' He understood, as someone who served with Washington,
Jefferson, Adams and Madison, that its terms provide ``only its great
outlines'' and that its application in various circumstances would need
to be deduced. The ``necessary and proper'' clause of the Constitution
entrusts to Congress the legislative power ``to make all laws which
shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution'' the
enumerated legislative powers of article I, section 8, of our
Constitution as well as ``all other powers vested by this Constitution
in the Government of the United States.'' In construing it, Chief
Justice Marshall explained that expansion clause ``is in a
constitution, intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to
be adapted to the various crises of human affairs.'' He went on to
declare how, in accordance with a proper understanding of the
``necessary and proper'' clause and the Constitution, Congress should
not by judicial fiat be deprived ``of the capacity to avail itself of
experience, to exercise its reason, and to accommodate its legislation
to human affairs'' by judicial fiat. Chief Justice Marshall understood
the Constitution, knew its text and knew the Framers. He rejected
stagnant construction of the Constitution.
McCulloch v. Maryland was the Supreme Court's first construction of
the ``necessary and proper'' clause. The most recent was just last
month in United States v. Comstock. That case upheld the power of
Congress to enact the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which
included provisions authorizing civil commitment of sexually dangerous
Federal prisoners who had engaged in sexually violent conduct or child
molestation and were mentally ill. Quoting Chief Justice Marshall's
language from McCullough, Justice Breyer wrote in an opinion joined by
a majority of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Roberts, about
the ``foresight'' of the Framers who drafted a Constitution capable of
resilience and adaptable to new developments and conditions.
Justice Breyer's judicial philosophy is well known. A few years ago,
he authored ``Active Liberty'' in which he discussed how the
Constitution and constitutional decisionmaking protects our freedoms
and, in particular, the role of the American people in our democratic
government. When he writes about how our constitutional values applying
to new subjects ``with which the framers were not familiar,'' he looks
to be faithful to the purposes of the Constitution and the consequences
of various decisions.
During the Civil War, in the 1863 Prize Cases decision, the Supreme
Court upheld the constitutionality of President Lincoln's decision to
blockade southern ports before a formal congressional declaration of
war against the Confederacy. Justice Grier explained that it was no
less a war because it was a rebellion against the lawful authority of
the United States. Noting that Great Britain and other European nations
had declared their neutrality in the conflict, he wrote that the Court
should not be asked ``to affect a technical ignorance of the existence
of a war, which all the world acknowledges to be the greatest civil war
known in the history of the human race.'' That, too, was real-world
judging.
In the same way, the Supreme Court decided more recently in Rasul v.
Bush, that there was jurisdiction to decide claim under the Great Writ
securing our freedom, the writ of habeas corpus, from those in U.S.
custody being held in Guantanamo. Justice Stevens, a veteran of World
War II, engaged in real-world judging, recognizing that the United
States exercised full and exclusive authority at Guantanamo if not
ultimate, territorial sovereignty. The ploy by which the Bush
administration had attempted to circumvent all judicial review of its
actions was rejected recognizing that ours is a government of checks
and balances.
Examples of real-world judging abound in the Supreme Court's
decisions upholding our individual freedoms. For example, the First
Amendment expressly protects freedom of speech and the press, but the
Court has applied it, without controversy, to television, radio
broadcasting, and the Internet. Our privacy protection from the fourth
amendment has been tested but survived the invention of the telephone
and institution of Government wiretapping because the Supreme Court did
not limit our freedom to tangible things and physical intrusions but
sought to ensure privacy consistent with the principles embodied in the
Constitution.
Real-world judging is precisely what the Supreme Court did in its
most famous and admired modern decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
I recently saw the marvelous production of the George Stevens, Jr.,
one-man play ``Thurgood'' starring Laurence Fishburne. It was an
extraordinary evening recalling one of the great legal giants of
America. At one point, Justice Marshall reads a few lines from the
unanimous decision of the Supreme Court in 1954 that declared racial
discrimination in education unconstitutional. Chief Justice Warren had
written:
In approaching this problem, we cannot turn the clock back
to 1868, when the [Fourth] Amendment was adopted or even to
1896 when Plessy v. Ferguson was written. We must consider
public education in the light of its full development and its
present place in American life throughout the Nation. Only in
this way can it be determined if segregation in public
schools deprives these plaintiffs of the equal protection of
the laws.
That was real-world judging that helped end a discriminatory--and
dark--chapter in our history. The Supreme Court did not limit itself to
Constitution as written in 1787. At that point in our early history,
``We the People'' did not include Native Americans or African-American
slaves, and our laws failed to accord half the population equality or
the right to vote because they were female. Real-world judging takes
into account that the world and our Constitution have changed since
1788. It took into account not only the Civil War, but the Civil War
amendments to the Constitution adopted between 1865 and 1870.
Would anyone today, even Justice Scalia, really read the eighth
amendment's limitation against cruel and unusual punishment to allow
the cutting off of ears that was practiced in colonial times? Of course
not, because the standard of what is cruel and unusual punishment was
not frozen for all time in 1788. Does anyone dispute today that the
fundamental rights set forth in the Bill of Rights are correctly
applied to the States through the due process clause of the 14th
amendment? Literally, the freedoms in our Bill of Rights were expressed
only as limitations on the authority of Congress. Does anyone think
that the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment cannot be read
to prohibit gender discrimination? It was most assuredly not
[[Page S5190]]
women that its drafter had in mind when it was adopted.
Our Constitution was written before Americans had ventured into outer
space, or cyberspace. It was written before automobiles, airplanes or
even steamboats. Yet the language and principles of the Constitution
remain the same as it is applied to new developments. The Constitution
mentions our ``Armed Forces'' but there was no air force when the
Constitution was written. Similarly, in construing the ``commerce
clause'' and the intellectual property provisions to provide copyright
and patent protection for ``writings and discoveries,'' the Supreme
Court has engaged in real-world judging as it applies our
constitutional principles to the inventions, creations and conditions
of the 21st century. Jefferson and Madison may have mastered the quill
pen, but never envisioned modern computers.
There are unfortunately occasions on which the current conservative,
sometimes activist, majority on the Supreme Court did not engage in
real-world judging. One such case, the Lilly Ledbetter case, would have
perpetuated unequal pay for women, by using a rigid, results-oriented,
cramped reading of a statute to defy congressional intent. We corrected
that case by statute. Similarly, the Gross decision seeks to close our
courts to those treated unfairly. The legislature must correct it. And,
of course, the Citizens United case wrongly reversed 100 years of legal
developments to unleash corporate influence in elections.
We saw yet another troubling example in a narrow 5-4 decision handed
down earlier today in a case called Rent-A-Center v. Jackson, in which
the conservative activists in the majority, once again, have ruled in
favor of big business at the expense of hardworking Americans. With
this narrow decision, the five Justices in the majority have overridden
the intent of Congress in passing the Federal Arbitration Act and
abandoned our longstanding tradition of allowing people to go to court
to challenge unconscionable agreements. Just as it was in the wake of
the Ledbetter case, it will be up to Congress to correct this error and
undo the damage it has done to thousands of people who have no choice
but to sign unfair agreements in order to get a job and put food on
their table for their families.
The issue before the Court was whether a court or an arbitrator
should decide the enforceability of an agreement to settle disputes
that may arise. Justice Stevens, writing for the four dissenting
Justices noted that the question whether a legally binding arbitration
agreement existed is an issue that the Federal Arbitration Act assigns
to the courts. Congress did not intend to prevent employers from having
access to an impartial court's determination whether the agreement was
unconscionable. Today's ruling turns that purpose, and even the Court's
own precedent, upside down.
It is estimated that more than one hundred million Americans work
under binding mandatory arbitration agreements. Most Americans are not
even aware that according to the new Supreme Court ruling, they will
have waived their constitutional rights to a jury trial when they
accept a job to provide for their families. This divisive decision not
only closes the courthouse doors to millions of American workers and
their families, it gives big business even more incentive to require
their employees to sign one-sided arbitration agreements as a condition
of employment.
Considering how the law will work in the real world is an
indispensable part of a judge's responsibility. I expect that Elena
Kagan learned that lesson early in her legal career when she clerked
for Justice Marshall. In 1993, upon the death of Justice Thurgood
Marshall, she observed:
Above all, he had the great lawyer's talent . . . for
pinpointing a case's critical fact or core issue. That trait,
I think, resulted from his understanding of the pragmatic--of
the way in which the law acted on people's lives.
If confirmed, Elena Kagan would be the third member of the current
Supreme Court to have had experience working in all three branches of
the government prior to being nominated. Some have criticized her work
during the Clinton administration as political. I suggest that a fair
reading of her papers indicates that she has the ability to take many
factors into account in analyzing legal problems and that her skills
include practicality, principle and pragmatism. These were all used in
their service to the American people by Justices Sandra Day O'Connor,
Souter and Stevens.
I have always thought that a nominee's judicial philosophy was
important. Nearly 25 years ago, I noted in an earlier hearing for a
Supreme Court nominee:
There can hardly be an issue closer to the heart of the
Senate's role than a full and public exposition of the
nominee's approach to the Constitution and to the role of the
courts in discerning and enforcing its commands. That is what
I mean by judicial philosophy.
It is only recently that some Republican Senators conceded that
judicial philosophy matters. I hope this means that they will abandon
the false premise that all a Justice does is mechanically apply obvious
legal dictates to reach preordained outcomes. There is more to serving
the country as a Supreme Court Justice. A Supreme Court Justice needs
to exercise judgment, should appreciate for the proper role of the
courts in our democracy, and should consider the consequences of
decisions on the fundamental purposes of the law and in the lives of
Americans--in other words, engage in real-world judging.
I intend to ask the nominee about her judicial philosophy and about
real-world judging. That is what I have done through the course of a
dozen Supreme Court nominations hearings. Real-world judging is an
important part of American constitutional life.
As I have said, I reject the ideological litmus test that Senate
Republicans would apply to Supreme Court nominees. Unlike those on the
right who drove President Bush to withdraw his nomination of Harriet
Miers and those who opposed Justice Sotomayor, I do not require every
Supreme Court nominee to swear fealty to the judicial approach and
outcomes ordained by adhering to the narrow views of Justice Scalia and
Justice Thomas. I expect judges and Justices to faithfully interpret
the Constitution and apply the law, and also to look to the legislative
intent of our laws and to consider the consequences of their decisions.
I hope that judges and Justices will respect the will of the people, as
reflected in the actions of their democratically elected
representatives in Congress, and serve as a check on an overreaching
executive.
What others seem to want is assurance that a nominee for the Supreme
Court will rule the way they want so that they will get the end results
they want in cases before the Supreme Court. Lack of such assurances
was why they vetoed President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, the
third woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court in our history and the
only one not to be confirmed. They forced Ms. Miers to withdraw even
while Democrats were preparing to proceed with her hearing. They do not
want an independent judiciary. They demand Justices who will guarantee
the results they want. That is their ideological litmus test. As
critics level complaints against Elena Kagan, I suspect that the real
basis of that discontent will be that the nominee will not guarantee a
desired litigation outcome.
Of course that is not judging. That is not even umpiring. That is
fixing the game. It is conservative activism plain and simple. It is
the kind of conservative activism we saw when the Supreme Court in
Ledbetter disregarded the plain language and purpose of title VII. It
is the kind of activism we saw when, this past January, a conservative
activist majority turned its back on the Supreme Courts own precedents,
the considered judgment of Congress, the interests of the American
people and our long history of limiting corporate influence in
elections in their Citizens United decision.
We can do better than that. In fact, we always have done better than
that. In reality, we can expect Justices who are committed to do the
hard work of judging required of the Supreme Court. In practice, this
means that we want Justices who will pay close attention to the facts
in every case that comes before them, to the arguments on every side,
to the particular language and purposes of the statutes they are
charged with interpreting, to their own precedents, to the traditions
and longstanding historical practices of this
[[Page S5191]]
Nation, and to the real-world ramifications of their decisions. Judging
is not just textual and is not automatic. If it were, a computer could
do it. If it were, important decisions would not be made 5 to 4.
The resilience of the Constitution is that its great concepts and
phrases are not self-executing. They involve constitutional values that
need to be applied. Cases often involve competing constitutional
values. In the hard cases that come before the Court in the real world,
we want--and need--Justices who have the good sense to appreciate the
significance of the facts in the cases in front of them as well the
ramifications of their decisions in human and institutional terms. I
expect in close cases that hard-working Justices will sometimes
disagree about results. I do not expect to agree with every decision of
every Justice. I understand that. I support judicial independence. I
voted for Justice Stevens, Justice O'Connor and Justice Souter, who
were all nominees of Republican Presidents.
A year ago, most Republican Senators opposed the nomination of
Justice Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, in spite of her outstanding
record for more than 17 years as a Federal district and court of
appeals judge. Most Republican Senators opposed Justice Sotomayor's
nomination not because she lacked the requisite professional
qualifications or because there were issues about her character or
integrity. Her record was impeccable. Sadly, the complaints about both
Justice Sotomayor and now being echoed in opposition to Solicitor
General Kagan are based on the two nominees' unwillingness to promise
to deliver results that align with a narrow political ideology.
We 100 who are charged with giving our advice and consent on Supreme
Court nominations should consider whether those nominated have the
skills, temperament and good sense to independently assess in every
case the significance of the facts and the law and real-world
ramifications of their decisions. I have urged Republican and
Democratic Presidents to nominate people from outside the judicial
monastery because I think real-world experience is helpful and because
I know that real-world judging matters in the lives of the American
people. The American people live in a real world of great challenges.
We have a guiding charter that provides great promise. At the end of
the day, the Supreme Court functions in the real world that affects all
Americans. Judicial nominees need to appreciate that simple, undeniable
fact. history--segregation.
Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, how much time remains on this side?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Six and a half minutes.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, since Ms. Kagan was nominated, President
Obama and his administration have attempted to defend not only her
discriminatory treatment of the military at Harvard but to do so
through misleading and even untrue statements. Indeed, Vice President
Biden said Ms. Kagan's policy was ``right,'' and he suggested she was
merely following the law, both of which were not correct.
The recent statements made by the White House after the release late
Friday of relevant records on this matter are most troubling. The
records not only prove Ms. Kagan deliberately obstructed military
activity at the Harvard campus during wartime, but they reveal her
actions were even more concerning than previously known. The White
House continues to insist she worked to accommodate military
recruiters--which is just the opposite of accurate--that she
assiduously worked to follow the law--not so--and to ensure that
Harvard law students could choose a career in the military service.
Well, I guess they could, but she certainly was not furthering that
opportunity.
The documents revealed late Friday night show these statements are
not accurate and really seem to be part of a campaign to rewrite what
happened there. The documents show that Ms. Kagan reversed Harvard's
policy--which allowed the military to come and recruit, as any other
group would--without basis or notice, in order to block the access of
the recruiters, not to accommodate them. That is not disputed. It
shouldn't be disputed.
The documents further show that she defied Federal law, forcing the
Department of Defense to use its authority to bring Harvard into
compliance. They had to threaten to cut off Harvard's money. They
showed she did not ensure access to military careers and recruiters,
but that the Office of Career Services prevented the military from even
posting job openings on campus. They show that she sanctioned a
demeaning second-class entry system for the military that the
Department of Defense finally stood up to and said: No, that is
intolerable and we will not accept it.
The documents also show that Ms. Kagan continued to fight military
recruitment even when her defiance of the law meant that Harvard could
lose $\1/2\ billion a year. In a memorandum we obtained from the
Department of Defense, Larry Summers--then president of Harvard, now
President Obama's chief economic adviser--approved the entrance of the
military recruiters fully on campus over the objection of Dean Kagan.
Now, that is the fact.
So this policy was designed to obstruct recruiters and not only to
end recruiting on campus, really, but to punish and demean the military
in an attempt to force them to change the ``Don't Ask Don't Tell''
policy. But that rule was not enacted by the military. It was enacted
by Congress and Ms. Kagan's former boss, President Bill Clinton, in
whose White House she worked for 5 years--without apparently any
serious objection to his signing of the policy.
Ms. Kagan's actions, combined with the fact that she had little to
say about recruiting policy while working with President Clinton, raise
questions about whether this is just a hostility to the military. They
were just saluting and following the policy of Congress and the
President. Why should they be blamed for this? Why should people who
risk their lives to ensure Harvard's freedom be given second-class
treatment on the Harvard campus? It was absolutely unacceptable then;
it is unacceptable now.
I was involved, and this Congress had to pass a new law, an updated
Solomon amendment, to end this policy. And Dean Kagan was one of the
leaders of the law school's efforts. That is just a fact. And to
suggest otherwise is misleading.
Here are some quotes from some of the e-mails that were released.
Harvard Law School is delaying and providing a ``slow
role'' to Air Force's efforts to recruit during the Spring
recruiting season. Seems they have delayed sufficiently in
providing permission that the Season may already be ``too
late.''
That was in February 2005, when she was dean.
In March 2005, this memo was written:
The Army was stonewalled at Harvard. Phone calls and e-
mails went unanswered and the standard response was--we're
waiting to hear from our higher authority.
How about another one? This was in April of 2006:
We're all searching for a way to limit the polarizing
nature of the anti Solomonites--
Those are the people who were trying to have the Solomon amendment
passed in Congress thrown out--
who now rattle sabers over an intent to shout down the
military. Dean Kagan is a case in point below as she
reportedly ``encouraged students to demonstrate against the
presence of recruiters . . . . (and to) express their views
clearly and forcefully.''
Indeed, she sent out e-mails to students explaining why she thought
this was so important. She was a national leader in this effort.
Another e-mail, March 10 of 2005. This military person said he
explained to Harvard that the Third Circuit opinion they were using as
a pretext to not follow the law had issued a stay of injunction and the
Solomon amendment remained current law. He goes on to say:
I asked him if I could at least post a job posting via
their office and he said no. He stressed that I could contact
interested students via the Harvard veterans Student Group
but that his office could not provide any support to us.
So we need a fair and honest evaluation. I, for one, have frankly
been disappointed in this administration's obfuscation, deliberately
attempting to hide the nature of what happened at Harvard, because it
was, in fact, inexcusable. The administration should not defend this.
They should give her a
[[Page S5192]]
chance. Maybe she would say she made a mistake; maybe she would defend
it. But I can't imagine an administration would to want defend this
kind of policy.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. SESSIONS. I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, how much time remains on this side?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 2 minutes 40 seconds remaining.
Mr. LEVIN. First, Mr. President, I wish to thank Senator Leahy and
members of the Judiciary Committee for the hearing they gave to Mark
Goldsmith for the Eastern District of Michigan. He is an extraordinary
judge. He has proved it already on the bench in Michigan. He has
wonderful judicial temperament, he knows how to listen, he knows how to
think, and he brings to the bench--and will bring to the bench when,
hopefully, we confirm him--the kind of judicial temperament we want in
our district court judges. So I thank Senator Leahy and Senator
Sessions, while he is on the floor. I have talked to Senator Sessions
about Mark Goldsmith, and I thank him for his receptiveness.
I believe all the members of the Judiciary Committee who had the
chance to read the record or to be there at the hearing will agree that
this is an unusually well-qualified nominee for our district court
bench, and I thank them for their unanimous vote to bring him out of
the committee.
Judge Goldsmith has had an impressive legal career. He graduated with
high distinction and honors in economics from the University of
Michigan in 1974. He was a member of the Honors Program in Economics at
the University of Michigan and founded and served as editor-in-chief of
the Michigan Undergraduate Journal of Economics. He graduated cum laude
from Harvard Law School in 1977.
Judge Goldsmith has served on the Oakland County Circuit Court in the
civil/criminal division since March 19, 2004, when he was appointed by
Governor Jennifer Granholm. He also served as a magistrate at the 45-B
District Court and as a Special Counsel to the State Bar Committee on
the Unauthorized Practice of Law, a hearing panelist for the Attorney
Discipline Board and as an adjunct instructor at Wayne State University
Law School.
Prior to his service as a circuit court judge, Judge Goldsmith
practiced law for nearly 25 years. He is admitted to practice in
several states, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S Court of Appeals
for the Sixth Circuit, U.S. Court of Military Appeals, U.S. Air Force
Court of Military Review and numerous U.S. District Courts.
Judge Goldsmith is also committed to legal community service. He
served as president of the Federal Bar Association, Eastern District of
Michigan Chapter and has served for many years as that organization's
pro bono chair, receiving certificates of recognition from the U.S.
District Court, Eastern District of Michigan for his pro bono
involvement. He is currently a member of the executive board of Wayne
State University's Center for the Study of Citizenship and a member of
the Fair Housing Advisory Board of Legal Aid and Defender Association,
Inc. Further, he helped establish the Circle of Friends--teaching
language and acculturation skills to immigrants--and has served on the
board of Forgotten Harvest--a distributor of food to the needy--and on
the Regional Advisory Board of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League.
Judge Goldsmith will be an excellent addition to the Eastern District
Court and will serve with great distinction. I wish him well and thank
my colleagues for supporting his nomination.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the Record the e-mails I made reference to earlier.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
To: Sullivan, John, Mr., DoD OGC, Koffsky, Paul, Mr., DoD OGC
Subject: FW: AF Phase I Letter to Harvard Background
I just got back and going through my e-mails . . . Harvard
Law School is delaying and providing a ``slow role'' to Air
Force's efforts to recruit during the Spring recruiting
season. Seems they have delayed sufficiently in providing
permission that the Season ending March 4th may already be
``too late''. Any advice? I recommend a Phase I letter if
another phone call on Feb 22-24 comes up negative or
``inconclusive''. What do you advise?
____
Subject: AF Phase I Letter to Harvard Background
Good Morning--AF provided the basis for which they would
like to send the Phase I letter to Harvard. Both e-mails
attached for your files.
V/R.
____
Subject RE: Harvard Phase I Pushups
. . . checked with Army JAG Recruiting and Major Jackson
provided the following.
``Hi, Ma'am--
The Army was stonewalled at Harvard Phone calls and emails
went unanswered and the standard response was--we're waiting
to hear from higher authority.
The CSD refused to inform students that we were coming to
recruit and the CSD refused to collect resumes or provide any
other assistance.
V/R''
____
Subject FW: Harvard Phase I Pushups
Do you know, . . .
____
Subject RE: Harvard Phase I Pushups
Thanks, . . . Did the other services run into the same
problems, or only the AF'' (It would be odd if the law school
treated the AF differently from other services).
____
Subject FW: Harvard Phase I Pushups
See below.
____
To Sullivan, John, Mr., DoD OGC, . . . Koffsky, Paul, Mr.,
DoD OGC
Subject FW: Harvard Phase I Pushups
I have modified the proposed P&R Action Memo and the
proposed DSD Info Memo because the Spring recruiting program
will come and go by the time this gets to DSD and without
Harvard LS notifying the Air Force . . .
____
To: Carr, Bill, CIV, OSD-P&R
Subject: RE: Solomon Olive Branch
Bill:
I have been discussing this with our Legal Counsel office.
We have some concerns and will talk to Paul Koffsky when he
returns from leave on Tuesday. Please hold off taking any
action until Paul and I can get together and talk to you
about this.
____
From: Carr, Bill, Mr., OSD PR [mailto
:[email protected]]
Subject: Solomon Olive Branch
. . . we had discussed merit of conveying to public an
outreach for calm and reason WRT Solomon. You asked that we
convey the draft for P&HP review. It is attached, and edits
are welcome.
Doubt we can make it an appealing length for an Op-Ed, so
maybe best to think of it as an article for professional
journals (e.g., Chronicle of Higher Ed or--more congently--a
publication circulated widely among law schools).
To those ends, would you be willing to take a whack at it,
Bob? Many thanks. Bill.
____
From: Carr, Bill, CIV, OSD-P&R [mailto
:[email protected]]
To: Dr. Curt Gilroy, SES, OSD-P&R
Subject: S: 3-22-06/Solomon Olive Branch--Or Not
Curt, I have a mission that requires an ambassadorial type
with strong writing talent. . . . comes to mind, particularly
since she will reap the fruits of this labor over the
forthcoming year(s).
I spoke with Paul Koffsky today. We're all searching for a
way to limit the polarizing nature of the anti-Solomonites
who now rattle sabers over an intent to shout down the
military. Dean Kagan is a case in point below as she
reportedly ``encouraged students to demonstrate against the
presence of recruiters . . . (and to) express their views
clearly and forcefully.'' Not a true fan of ``equal in
quality and scope'' it would appear.
Despite that (or because of it) we'll want to reach out to
academe to find a sober means of accomplishing our varied
purposes within statutory intent, but we lack a venue . . .
and AALS is too hostile to constructively . . .
____
Subject Re: Harvard Law School
Thanks, . . . share with the other recruiters. I will pass
it to OSD.
Thanks.
AP/JAX
____
Subject Harvard Law School
Thursday 10 March 2005
Sir, I just received a phone call from Mr. Mark Weber,
Assistant Dean for Career Services, Harvard Law School. All
my previous communication has been with one of his staff
members, Ms. Kathleen Robinson, the recruitment manager. He
stated that he was calling because he ``felt bad that they
had left us without an answer'' and wanted to pass on the
contact data of the president of the Harvard Veterans Student
Group. He stated that the faculty had still not decided
whether to allow us to participate in on-campus interviews
and that the official on-campus interview program for Spring
2005
[[Page S5193]]
had already concluded. I asked him if we'd be allowed to
participate in the Fall 2005 on-campus interview program and
he said he did not know.
Mr. Weber, asked me what our current position on the
Solomon Amendment was, and I explained that since the 3rd
Circuit had issued a stay of the injunction, the Solomon
Amendment was current law and that we were in the process of
following the procedures outlined in 32 CPR 216. He asked me
when they could expect a letter and I stated that I did not
know. We then briefly discussed the utility of on-campus
interviews.
I asked him what generated the phone call and he responded
that he ``felt bad they had left us with no answer but still
had no answer.''
I asked him if I could at least post a job posting via
their office and he said no. He stressed that I could contact
interested students via the Harvard Veterans Student Group
but that his office could not provide any support to us.
Sir, would you like me to forward the above to Mr. Reed and
LCDR Syring as well as to my fellow Service recruiters (i.e.,
Maj. Jackson, LCDR Passarello, and Capt. Houtz?) Also, should
I contact the Harvard Veterans Student Group's president.
There's danger there, since in the past they were the de
facto ``replacement'' for the CSO office's service.
Interesting timing of the phone call.
v/r
____
. . . that a decision has been made to allow military
recruiting, they have engaged in a ``practice'' that in
effect denied the Air Force an opportunity to recruit in a
manner that is at least equal in quality and scope with other
prospective employers who participated in the HLS recruiting
program. By delaying until the last minute (or never
providing an answer) to the AF request to recruit, the AF is
unable to organize and schedule the recruiting effort in time
to participate in the HLS program which ends on March 4,
2005. We shouldn't allow HLS to ``play this game.''
Please review and provide comments before I go back to . .
. in P&R.
____
Subject FW: Harvard Phase I Pushups
. . .
Good Afternoon--Mr. Carr requested that I draft an info
paper to DSD as outlined below. Attached is draft of info
paper. Would you like me to provide a package for formal
coordination on the paper or will informal e-mail review be
okay?
Thanks, V/R
____
Subject: Harvard Phase I Pushups
. . . before sending Harvard Phase I letter, we must do
following pushups per agreement Koffsky/Carr:
1. (AP) Info paper to DSD outlining what we're about to do
and why (since DSD has had personal involvement), once done
(and absent immediate objections);
2. (OGC) Mr. Koffsky will then alert Jeff Smith, out of
house counsel for Harvard on Solomon, who has generally
worked faithfully with us, then;
3. (AP) Notify AF that it is clear to launch.
Over to you for step 1 Tks' Bill.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the
absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the
Goldsmith nomination.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to
be a sufficient second.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination
of Mark A. Goldsmith, of Michigan, to be United States District Judge
for the Eastern District of Michigan?
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Bayh), the
Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Byrd), the Senator from Illinois (Mr.
Durbin), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson), and the Senator from
Oregon (Mr. Wyden) are necessarily absent.
Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Utah (Mr. Bennett), the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Bond), the
Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Gregg), the Senator from Texas (Mrs.
Hutchison), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Thune), and the Senator
from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter).
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Shaheen). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 195 Ex.]
YEAS--89
Akaka
Alexander
Barrasso
Baucus
Begich
Bennet
Bingaman
Boxer
Brown (MA)
Brown (OH)
Brownback
Bunning
Burr
Burris
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Chambliss
Coburn
Cochran
Collins
Conrad
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
DeMint
Dodd
Dorgan
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagan
Harkin
Hatch
Inhofe
Inouye
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson
Kaufman
Kerry
Klobuchar
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
LeMieux
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lugar
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (NE)
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Risch
Roberts
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schumer
Sessions
Shaheen
Shelby
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Voinovich
Warner
Webb
Whitehouse
Wicker
NOT VOTING--11
Bayh
Bennett
Bond
Byrd
Durbin
Gregg
Hutchison
Nelson (FL)
Thune
Vitter
Wyden
The nomination was confirmed.
____________________