[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 14, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S595-S599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATION OF ADALBERTO JOSE JORDAN TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT--Continued
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
Arizona's Centennial Celebration
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize an important
milestone in our Nation's history.
On February 14, 1912, Arizona officially became the 48th member of
these 50 United States. I am proud to salute my home State on this her
centennial celebration.
Yes, we were the last of the contiguous 48 States to join, but we
were certainly not the least of them. Today I would like to tell you
just a little bit about why I say that is so.
Arizona is not the largest or the oldest member of the Union. It did
not participate in the Revolutionary War. It does not border an ocean
or one of the Great Lakes. The Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution do not bear a single Arizonan signature. Yet there is
something about Arizona that is great, something that truly sets the
Grand Canyon State apart from the rest. The Grand Canyon, of course,
comes to mind.
I would like to quote one of America's most famous explorers, John
Wesley Powell, who once said:
The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately
represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The
resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in
attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration
combined must fail.
I agree. I have hiked the Grand Canyon. I have seen it from above,
and I have seen it from below. Words literally cannot describe its
power or its beauty. That is why every year millions of tourists come
from all corners of our Nation and from across the Atlantic and the
Pacific to experience the majesty we are fortunate enough to have right
there in our own backyard.
But as big as it is, the Grand Canyon is just a small part of the
Arizona story. There are the Sedona Red Rocks, the beautiful White
Mountains, the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, Monument Valley,
Saguaro National Park, the 12,000-foot San Francisco Peaks, and
countless other natural wonders that span across our deserts and
through our forests. There are almost 4,000 peaks and summits in our
State alone.
Arizona is also home to manmade marvels, including innovative
projects that have allowed much needed freshwater to flow to our
communities. These include the Hoover Dam, the Glen Canyon Dam, the
Central Arizona Project, the Salt River Project and its keystone
element, and the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.
Arizonans share the land with owls, ocelots, and eagles, jaguars,
lots of rattlesnakes, and falcons. Our landscape is foliated not just
with agave and cacti but with majestic aspen, fir, and spruce and the
largest Ponderosa pine forest in the world.
We are rich in natural resources. From an early age, all Arizonans
learn about the State's five Cs: copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, and
climate.
Copper. The mineral that attracted many Arizonans to our State in the
first place has been used by American Indians in tool and weaponmaking
for centuries. Today, Arizona produces more copper than every other
State combined, and it is now being used to develop the alternative
energy technologies and vehicles of tomorrow.
Cattle. Along with sheep and hogs, the ranching of cattle is deeply
imprinted on our State's cowboy culture and continues to help drive our
economy today.
Cotton. One of our most important cash crops at the turn of the last
century, cotton is still an important industry in our State. This crop,
including our very own Pima long-staple variety, is used to produce the
clothing, fertilizer, fuel, and cooking oil used by millions of
Americans every day.
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Citrus. The harvesting of fruits such as lemons and oranges is one of
the important elements of Arizona's agricultural industry, with a
history that runs deep in our State. We now export about $40 million in
fruits and preparations every year.
Climate. Arizona mornings are warm and filled with sunshine, and our
sunsets are the best anywhere. We may not always have a white
Christmas, but we do have a booming tourism industry that attracts
nearly 37 million--we call them snowbirds, conservationists, and
adventurers--every year.
These five Cs, along with the natural treasures I mentioned earlier,
are the physical expression of our State motto: ``Ditat Deus'' or ``God
Enriches.'' Because of this, Arizonans are fiercely protective of the
ecological riches that exist around them.
We honor nature for its beauty, but we also respect it for its power.
I do not need to tell you about Arizona's heat. Some of my colleagues
in this Chamber are known to complain when it reaches 80 degrees in
Washington. Well, we Arizonans start to get warm when the mercury hits
120. It gets cold at night too. In fact, Arizona can yield the Nation's
highest and lowest temperatures in the very same day.
There are forest fires. Last summer, we saw the largest such fire in
our history, the Wallow megafire, burn more than 840 square miles of
our treasured landscape. But we have picked ourselves up, and we are
rebuilding--just like we always do. The lessons we have learned from
the Wallow fire will help us defend against similar megafires in the
future.
Some of Arizona's forebears were the prospectors and the ranchers who
gave up everything for a chance at a better life. Some were the
adventurers and cowboys who thrived on freedom and danger. Some of us
can trace our history directly back to the Spanish missionaries or to
our longstanding dynamic Hispanic community that has so greatly
influenced our distinctive culture and cuisine. Many of us are direct
descendants of the very first Arizonans--the 21 great American Indian
tribes who continue to teach us important lessons about working with
rather than against the expansive natural beauty and danger that
surrounds us.
These are Arizona's founding fathers. While each has influenced our
State in a unique way, all share these common traits: a strong sense of
independence and a willingness to persevere against the odds.
That is, I believe, one of the reasons Arizona has such outsized
national influence compared to its relatively small size and
population. Indeed, the fierce wind of independence that rolls across
our desert landscape has propelled not one but two of our leaders to
national political prominence in just the past few decades. We may not
have had an Arizonan in the White House--yet--but there are few States
that can boast a single 20th or 21st century major party Presidential
nominee, let alone two in our Barry Goldwater and John McCain.
My friends on the other side of the aisle will no doubt recall their
very able Senate majority leader from Arizona, Ernest McFarland. They
will also remember Representative Mo Udall and Senator Carl Hayden, who
served an amazing 57 years in Congress, 42 of them in this Chamber
alone. To put that into perspective, that is longer than Arizona's
senior Senator and I have served in the Congress combined.
Our State has both nurtured and welcomed respected jurists such as
William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor, world-renowned architects
such as Frank Lloyd Wright, entertainers such as Waylon Jennings, Linda
Ronstadt, and Glen Campbell--even Stephenie Meyer, author of the
Twilight series. Also, of course, I would be remiss if I neglected
Steven Spielberg. He, too, embraced Arizona's adventurous,
entrepreneurial spirit, turning his teenage moviemaking hobby in
Scottsdale and Phoenix into a multimillion-dollar Hollywood empire. Had
he been raised in another State, one without our Arizona spirit, would
the world have known classics today such as ``ET'' and ``Jaws''? We may
never know.
One thing we do know is that Arizona also gave rise to the Navajo
Code Talkers. It is a shame more Americans are not aware of the
talkers' incredible story. Their official Web site puts it this way:
It is a great American story that is still largely
unknown--the story of a group of young Navajo men who
answered the call of duty, who performed a service no one
else could, and in the process became great warriors and
patriots. Their unbreakable code saved thousands of lives and
helped end World War II.
Their code, of course, was the Navajo language.
Some of those young men were simple sheepherders on Arizona's great
Navajo reservation until our Nation called them to serve. They did so
with honor. They became American heroes in the process. Without them,
we may never have achieved victory in the Pacific theater, and I am
proud to pay tribute to these warriors today. Arizona honors them, and
every American owes the Code Talkers a debt of gratitude.
These are just some of the many reasons I am proud to call myself an
Arizonian. I was not born in Arizona. I became one by choice, and it
was one of the most consequential decisions I ever made. I came as a
young man to attend the University of Arizona. There I met my wife
Carol, and together we raised two children, both of whom I am proud to
say learned their five Cs from a very early age. I have not left
Arizona since my days at the University of Arizona, nor do I think I
ever would or could. There is something about the beauty that
surrounds, the spirit that encompasses, the Sun that paints the
landscape every morning. There is something different about Arizona,
and I am proud of that difference. We are a special people with a
distinctive place in the American mosaic.
I offer my congratulations to our Governor Jan Brewer, to my Arizona
colleagues in the House and Senate, and to my constituents throughout
our State on this historic centennial anniversary.
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. McCAIN. 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. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, it is my distinct privilege to join with
my beloved friend Jon Kyl to speak in honor of the centennial
anniversary of Arizona statehood. One hundred years ago, on February
14, 1912, the State of Arizona was officially admitted to the Union,
effectively completing the contiguous lower 48 States. Americans today
recognize Arizona as the thriving center of the Sunbelt, known for its
ability to attract businesses, manufacturing, and tourists from around
the world. The Valley of the Sun alone supports about 4 million people,
and our State capital--Phoenix--is the Nation's sixth largest city.
Compared to its humble beginnings, Arizona has enjoyed tremendous
growth and productivity, but this was not always so. Arizona's history
began over 10,000 years ago with the migration of early Native American
tribes to the region. For centuries, the Anasazi, Hohokam, and other
peoples flourished in the forested highlands and Sonoran Desert
lowlands. Many of the Indian tribes in Arizona today are the proud
descendants of those ancient peoples.
It was not until 1528, with the arrival of Spanish missionaries and
conquistadors in the towns of Tubac and Tucson, that the land and
people were first reshaped. Spanish colonization eventually gave way to
Mexican independence in 1821.
In 1848 the Mexican-American War concluded, with Mexico ceding much
of Arizona to the United States.
In 1853 President Franklin Pierce saw an opportunity to build a
transcontinental railroad connecting the South with southern California
and purchased the remaining bottom half of the Arizona Territory from
Mexico for $10 million--what today would be the equivalent of $244
million. It was around this time that American pioneers began to settle
the towns of Prescott, Flagstaff, picturesque Sedona and Yuma, the
gateway to gold-rich California.
During the Civil War, Arizona became a short-lived strategic interest
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for the Confederacy. The war's western-most battle was fought in
Arizona at Picacho Peak, about 50 miles north of Tucson. It reportedly
lasted 90 minutes and involved about 25 solders.
In the years that followed, cattlemen and mining speculators flocked
to develop Arizona's natural resources in towns such as Tombstone,
Bisbee, Show Low, and St. John's, the birthplace of our late and
beloved Morris Udall. The boundaries of the State soon began to take
shape thanks to explorers such as John Wesley Powell, whose famous 3-
month expedition down the mighty Colorado charted the first known
passage through the Grand Canyon.
Efforts in Congress to pass statehood began around the turn of the
20th century. One proposal sought to combine the territories of Arizona
and New Mexico into one massive State. But Arizona settlers would have
none of it, and it is unlikely that the people of New Mexico were all
too excited about the plan either.
At the time, many outsiders did not fully appreciate Arizona's
untapped potential. They considered it nothing more than a desert
wasteland, economically desolate and virtually uninhabitable. One of
Arizona's first territorial representatives, Henry Ashurst, is known to
have risen in Congress to argue that ``all that Arizona needs to
flourish is good people and water,'' to which an east cost Member
supposedly retorted, ``You could say the same about hell.''
Arizonans eventually succeeded in convincing Congress to grant
statehood. This was partially due to the construction of the Theodore
Roosevelt Dam in 1903, as part of the Salt River project in Phoenix,
one of the Nation's first Federal reclamation projects. The Roosevelt
Dam channeled lifegiving water from the Salt River into a series of
irrigation canals that overlay a canal network dug by the Hohokam
Indians more than 1,000 years prior. Fueled by irrigation water and
hydroelectric power, the small community of Phoenix, which started as a
cavalry hay camp at Fort McDowell, began its rise to national
prominence.
My predecessor in the Senate, the late Senator Barry Goldwater, is
among Arizona's most celebrated statesmen, having served five terms in
this body. He was born in Phoenix when Arizona was still a territory
and witnessed remarkable changes to the Grand Canyon State throughout
his lifetime.
The Smithsonian magazine recently republished an op-ed Goldwater
wrote in 1962 called ``Arizona's Next Fifty years'' where he imagines
what Arizona would look like by 2012. Keep in mind that Arizona had
barely 1 million people living across the entire State in the 1960s.
Modern air-conditioning technology was relatively new, and the 1,500
miles of interstate crisscrossing the State today was still on the
drawing board. Yet Goldwater correctly predicted a rapid population
growth, comparing Phoenix to other major U.S. cities. I would like to
share some of his predictions. He wrote:
It will be the deserts that will support the majority of
the new homes. Phoenix will have a population of about three
million and Tucson will grow to about one and one-half
million. Phoenix and Tucson will remain the two largest
cities in the state, with Phoenix being either the fourth or
sixth largest city in the United States. The growth of
Glendale, Peoria and Avondale will parallel that of Phoenix
proper, so that 50 years from now, all of these cities will
be contiguous with each other and with Phoenix, and will form
a city complex not unlike the present city of Los Angeles.
Anyone who has flown into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
can see from the sky, day or night, the infinite grid-like layout of
the metro Phoenix area. Senator Goldwater understood that this kind of
development would fundamentally alter how Arizonans relate to the
desert, writing:
The man of 2012 would not be able to walk from his doorstep
into this pastel paradise with its saguaro, the mesquite, the
leap of a jackrabbit . . . or the smell of freshly wet
greasewood, because people will have transgressed on the
desert for homesites to accommodate a population of slightly
over 10 million people. The forests will be protected, as
well as our parks and monuments. But even they will have as
neighbors the people who today enjoy hardships to visit them.
Despite the challenges of increased demand on our natural resources,
Senator Goldwater correctly believed that the State would mature into a
modern, industrious economy with global connections. He said:
Arizona's principal economic growth will be in the
industrial field, with emphasis being on items of a
technological nature. It will not be many years before
industry will become an important part of the economies of
most Arizona cities, whereas today it is more or less
confined to a few. Arizona will continue to be the haven for
people who seek an outlet for initiative and a reward for
work. The frontier challenges will exist then as they do
today, for man's progress never stops unless man stops it.
Fortunately for our State, our men have always and will
always want to go forward, not backward.
So what is Arizona today? Arizona's open skies and fair climate offer
the U.S. military an ideal training environment for our soldiers and
high-tech combat systems. Luke Air Force Base outside of Phoenix will
be home to the F-35 fighter jet, the most advanced fighter in the
world. The U.S. Army Intelligence Center is located at Fort Huachuca in
southern Arizona, where UAV training serves a unique and irreplaceable
national security mission. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson,
the Nation's premier A-10 Warthog base, hosts an array of special
operations aircraft and will hopefully continue to grow in support of
our military's drone fleet. Across the highway, Arizonans in the Air
National Guard fly the newest F-16s to train foreign pilots from over
20 countries, and virtually every Marine Corps fixed-wing squadron that
participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm underwent
predeployment training at Yuma Marine Corps Station. Arizona is also
home to nearly 600,000 veterans, many of whom have returned to their
families and loved ones from Iraq and Afghanistan.
More copper is mined in Arizona than all of the other States
combined, and the Morenci Mine is the largest copper producer in all of
North America.
Two of the country's largest manmade lakes are in Arizona, Lake
Powell and Lake Mead--the result of Hoover Dam--which supply drinking
water to over 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, and California.
Yuma, AZ, an agricultural powerhouse, produces about 90 percent of
the country's winter vegetables. The lettuce in your salad this month
almost certainly came from Arizona.
We operate the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, located about
55 miles west of Phoenix, which generates more electricity than any
other powerplant in the Nation.
It is home to three major State universities: Arizona State
University, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University,
with an undergraduate and graduate population of over 130,000.
Arizona is a leader in manufacturing information, medical, and
defense technologies. We are headquarters to TGen, the Translational
Genomics Research Institute, which conducts cutting-edge genetic
research with the goal of curing Alzheimer's, autism, Parkinson's, and
numerous forms of cancer.
We support critical scientific endeavors to discover our place in the
universe: Arizona's unique landscapes, such as Meteor Crater and the
Painted Desert, once played a key role in the NASA Apollo training
missions. The world's largest solar telescope is located at Kitt Peak
National Observatory in Sells, AZ. The University of Arizona is
actively involved in the Cassini, Mars Lander, and Mars Rover missions,
as well as NASA's Osiris-Rex mission, which will be the first
spacecraft to land on an asteroid and return a sample to Earth.
It is also believed that the chimichanga has its origins in Arizona,
although its exact hometown is still a matter of vigorous historical
debate among locals.
I am immensely proud of Arizona's rich history, and I am humbled to
represent a State that has earned a special place in the American
consciousness. Even when I travel overseas, it is seldom I meet an
individual who doesn't know where the Grand Canyon is or isn't
captivated by the tales of the Old West or doesn't admire the rugged
individualism of Arizona's frontiersmen. I cannot presume to exercise
the kind of predictive abilities that Senator Goldwater displayed in
his article. All I can say is that Arizona's future is perhaps best
prophesized by reflecting on our legacy--judging our achievements
against our intrepid beginnings. For as
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long as Arizona stays true to the pioneer spirit, I believe her best
days are yet to come.
If I might ask the indulgence to read a short piece that I put in a
forward to a book by Lisa Schnebly Heidinger, ``Arizona: 100 Years
Grand,'' the official book of Arizona's Centennial:
Near the end of his life, Barry Goldwater tried to describe
to an interviewer his affection for Arizona. He started to
identify some of the many natural wonders so beloved by
Arizonans when he became emotional. `Arizona,' he proclaimed,
`is 113,400 square miles of heaven that God cut out.'
Fighting back tears, and unable to continue at length, he
managed only to add, `I love it so much.'
For much of my life I had been rootless. My father was a
naval officer and my childhood was an itinerant one as we
moved from one base to another more times than I can
enumerate. Following in his footsteps, I, too, made my home
in the United States Navy, and the only place I lived for
more than a year or two was an unexpectedly lengthy stay in a
foreign country that would not let me leave and would have
preferred I had never come.
Except for that period of involuntary residence, I had
always lived my life on the move, part of a tradition that
compensated me in other ways for the hometown it denied me. I
had no connection to one place; no safe harbor where I could
rest without care. Landscapes and characters all passed too
quickly to form the attachments of shared history and love
that calm your heart when age finally cages your
restlessness.
I was nearly forty-five years old before I could claim a
hometown. My ambitions brought me to Arizona, and my work
keeps me away from here for more than half my time. But
Arizona has given me a home, and in the thirty years that
have passed since I moved here, it has worked its magic on me
and enchanted me and claimed me.
In those thirty years I've been to almost every community
that Arizonans carved from the wilderness and made thrive:
places that have never stopped growing; and places where
opportunities were exhausted and were abandoned to history;
and places that rose and declined and were re-imagined and
made to prosper again by the hard working, self starting
dreamers Arizona attracts in such large numbers. I've
marveled at the resourcefulness and vision of generations of
Arizonans in Yuma and Page, Jerome and Kingman, Bisbee and
Flagstaff, who knew success and failure, who struggled,
achieved, lost and struggled again to build from their
freedom and opportunities in the challenging and beautiful
places that had won their hearts, strong, prospering and
decent communities.
At the end of every election, I've stood on the courthouse
steps in Prescott, our old territorial capital, and thought
of the pioneering families whose names still resonate in
contemporary public affairs like Udall and Goldwater. I look
at the Bucky O'Neill monument, that memorial to the Rough
Riders of whom he was among the roughest and bravest, and
remember the names of Arizonans, of every station and walk of
life, who risked everything so that the freedom Arizonans
cherish so dearly and make such good use of would be
birthright of all; names like Frank Luke and Ira Hayes, Lori
Piestewa and Pat Tillman.
I've experienced every scene of spectacular beauty this
blessed, bountiful, beautiful state possesses. I've hiked
Canyon de Chelly, Chiricahua, and rim to rim in the greatest
of our natural wonders, the Grand Canyon. I've rafted down
the Colorado. I've walked the trails of Saguaro National
Park; been struck mute by the awe-inspiring landscape of
Monument Valley; and spent countless happy hours following
hidden paths in our wilderness areas. I've houseboated on
Lake Powell. Many times, I've driven through the desert in
spring after a wet winter and felt myself become emotional as
I marveled at the profusion of vivid colors, the mesmerizing
beauty of desert wildflowers in bloom.
We have a home between Cottonwood and Sedona, to where my
family escapes whenever we have the chance. It's on a bend of
Oak Creek, surrounded by hills, a ghost ranch and Indian
caves, adorned by fruit orchards and roses, and shaded by
tall cottonwoods and sycamores. So many species of birds make
their home there I have lost count of them. Common black
hawks return annually to their nest in the sycamore beneath
which I drink my morning coffee and give thanks for the
blessing of living in such natural splendor. I have never in
my life loved a place more. And when my public life is over,
I will spend the remainder of my days there giving thanks,
and enjoying the happiness of belonging to someplace so
beautiful, smaller and more intimate than a nation that spans
a continent.
The State of Arizona is approaching its centennial. A
hundred years of audacious and difficult undertakings, of
dreams won and lost and sought again, of progress and
struggle and resilience. It's a rough and tumble history;
colorful, heroic, bold and inspiring, like the character of
the people who made it. You'll see it celebrated
appropriately in this splendid book. And you'll glimpse the
future that today's Arizonans, the dreamers and risk takers,
lovers of freedom, captivated by the stunning landscapes and
resilient, enterprising communities that have worked their
magic on them, will build. It will be a future worthy of our
predecessors' achievements and legacies; a future of
adversity overcome and opportunities for all. We will change,
as all places do. Others will come, as I once came, to make a
new home or find the only home they ever really had in towns
and cities and rural communities that will be better for
their presence and contributions. They will face the
challenges of their time and experience unexpected setbacks
but they will stick with it, work harder, dream bigger and
prevail. And a hundred years from now, their history,
character and accomplishments will inspire their fortunate
descendents and the newcomers who will come here to live in
beauty and make the most of their lives.
We will change, but the values and beauty we treasure will
remain intact. Arizona is 113,400 square miles of heaven that
God cut out and Arizonans mean to keep it so. We love it that
much.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
(The remarks of Mr. Lieberman, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Rockefeller
pertaining to the introduction of S. 2105 are located in today's Record
under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Republican Senators delayed a final vote on
the nomination of Judge Adalberto Jordan of Florida even though the
Senate voted 89-5 last night to end a Republican filibuster that has
already prevented a vote for 4 months. This is a consensus nominee who
Senator Nelson has been strongly supporting and who Senator Rubio also
supports. He should have been confirmed 4 months ago. He should have
been confirmed last night after the overwhelming cloture vote. Instead,
obstruction needlessly delayed the Senate acting to fill the emergency
judicial vacancy on the Eleventh Circuit.
Senator Nelson has worked hard for this nomination, working to get
Judge Jordan's nomination cleared by every Democratic Senator in
October immediately after it was reported unanimously by the Judiciary
Committee. We were ready to vote in October. We were ready to vote in
November. We were ready to vote before the end of the last session of
Congress in December. It is hard to believe that it is now the middle
of February, over 4 months after Judge Jordan's nomination was reported
with the support of every Democrat and every Republican on the
Judiciary Committee, and the Senate still has not voted to fill this
judicial emergency vacancy affecting the people of Florida, Georgia and
Alabama. I appreciate why Senator Nelson is frustrated. I understand
why Hispanics for a Fair Judiciary and the Hispanic National Bar
Association are, too.
Let me refer to some of the reporting on this. One post begins:
So, here's the absurdity of our judicial confirmation
process--the full Senate voted 89-5 to invoke cloture,
meaning that Judge Jordan's nomination to the 11th Circuit
would finally come to a vote. But then Senator Nelson said
that one Senator is holding up the merits vote by demanding
30 more hours of `debate' post-cloture. Senators Leahy and
Boxer both then commented how ridiculous such a request was,
but that's the way it is. It looks like we'll have [to] wait
another 30 hours for Judge Jordan to move up to the 11th.
Silliness in our Congress . . . .
The article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:
South Florida lawyers praise him. Both of Florida's U.S.
senators have recommended him. And the Senate Judiciary
Committee voted unanimously to approve his nomination.
But U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan of South Florida
has been blocked for four months from rising to the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals, the latest sign of a polarized and
dysfunctional Senate.
A Senate filibuster that has kept Jordan waiting and the
appellate court undermanned fizzled on Monday when the Senate
voted 89-5 to move toward a final confirmation vote.
But Jordan is still waiting because one senator . . .
objected to attempts to complete action on Monday . . . .
I have not heard from any Republican Senators objecting to this Judge
explaining what they find wrong with this highly-qualified Cuban
American. I am at a loss as to why Republican Senators continue to
delay a vote on this outstanding nominee. This nominee is beyond
reproach. This is another nomination battle that has nothing to do with
the nominee and his qualifications. This is another example of
obstruction based on a collateral objective. The people of Florida,
Georgia and Alabama should not be made to suffer a judicial emergency
vacancy
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when this highly-qualified nominee should be confirmed without further
delay. Nor did anyone come forward to explain the Senate Republicans'
delay for the last 4 months. Cloture has been invoked by the Senate and
the filibuster will be ended. There was no good reason to continue to
hold up a vote that has already been delayed for 4 months.
When I first became chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 2001, I
followed a time when Senate Republicans, who had been in the majority,
had pocket filibustered more than 60 of President Clinton's judicial
nominations, blocking them with secret holds in backrooms and
cloakrooms, obstructing more with winks and nods, but with little to no
public explanation or accountability. I worked hard to change that and
to open up the process. I sought to bring daylight to the process by
making the consultation with home State Senators public so that the
Senate Republicans' abuses during the Clinton years would not be
repeated.
When Senate Democrats opposed some of President Bush's most
ideological nominees, we did so openly, saying why we opposed them. And
when there were consensus nominees--nominees with the support of both
Democrats and Republicans--we moved them quickly so they could begin
serving the American people. That is how we reduced vacancies in the
Presidential election years of 2004 and 2008 to the lowest levels in
decades. That is how we confirmed 205 of President Bush's judicial
nominees in his first term.
Now we see the reverse of how we treated President Bush's nominees.
Senate Republicans do not move quickly to consider consensus nominees,
like the 15 still on the Senate calendar that were reported unanimously
last year and should have had a Senate vote last year. Instead, as we
are seeing today and have seen all too often, Senate Republicans
obstruct and delay even consensus nominees, leaving us 45 judicial
nominees behind the pace we set for confirming President Bush's
judicial nominees. That is why vacancies remain so high, at 86, over 3
years into President Obama's first term. Vacancies are nearly double
what they were at this point in President Bush's third year. That is
why half of all Americans--nearly 160 million--live in circuits or
districts with a judicial vacancy that could have a judge if Senate
Republicans would only consent to vote on judicial nominees that have
been favorably voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee and have been
on the Senate executive calendar since last year.
This is an area where we should be working for the American people,
and putting their needs first. This is a nomination that has the strong
and committed support of the senior Senator from Florida, Senator
Nelson, as well as that of Senator Rubio, Florida's Republican Senator.
Judge Jordan had the unanimous support of every Republican and every
Democrat on the Judiciary Committee when we voted last October,
although one Republican switched his vote last night to support the
filibuster of Judge Jordan's nomination. This is the nomination of a
judge, Judge Jordan, who was confirmed to the district court by a vote
of 93 to one in 1999, even while Senate Republicans were pocket
filibustering more than 60 of President Clinton's judicial nominees.
I regret that Republican Senators chose to delay a final vote on
Judge Jordan's confirmation. He is a fine man who, after emigrating
from Havana, Cuba at the age of 6 went on to graduate summa cum laude
from the University of Miami law school and clerk for Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as Federal prosecutor
and Federal judge. The needless delay of Judge Jordan's confirmation is
an example of the harmful tactics that have all but paralyzed the
Senate confirmation process and are damaging our Federal courts.
It should not take 4 months and require a cloture motion to proceed
to a nomination such as that of Judge Jordan to fill a judicial
emergency vacancy on the Eleventh Circuit. It should not take more
months and more cloture motions before the Senate finally votes on the
nearly 20 other superbly-qualified judicial nominees who have been
stalled by Senate Republicans for months while vacancies continue to
plague our Federal courts and delay justice for the American people.
The American people need and deserve Federal courts ready to serve
them, not empty benches and long delays.
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