[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 27 (Friday, February 17, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FURMAN NOMINATION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise in support of Jesse Furman, who is 
a nominee for the District Court in the Southern District.
  I have had the good fortune to present to the President more than 13 
nominees for the Federal bench, every one of them is incredibly 
accomplished. Each represents the best of the bar that the State of New 
York has to offer. I believe in excellence, moderation, and diversity, 
which are the three standards I use. But on the standard of excellence, 
Jesse is no exception to my standard of excellence. In fact, he doesn't 
just meet it, he shatters it. He is one of the most brilliant lawyers 
in the country. He is amazing. The fact that he wants to serve our 
Federal Government on the bench is a tribute to us all. It is a tribute 
to our country and to him.
  How about moderation? This is the issue I wish to speak most to my 
colleagues about. Who was his protege in many ways? Judge Mukasey. He 
worked for Judge Mukasey as a clerk and then as attorney general. A lot 
of people on this side of the aisle, including myself, have real 
differences with Judge Mukasey, but if we cannot support Jesse Furman 
for the nomination, then we cannot support anybody because this 
nomination could have come from a Democrat, it could have come from a 
Republican, it could have come from a conservative, it could have come 
from a liberal. He is truly a mainstream thinker, and so this vote will 
be indicative. Because if Jesse Furman cannot achieve cloture, then our 
system is so paralyzed we better go back to the drawing board because 
it will mean no district court judge can be approved, none.
  So I would ask Senators on both sides of the aisle to support him. I 
know we have a number of our Republican colleagues who have said they 
might support him, and I hope they will. We had a good vote in the 
Judiciary Committee on Jesse Furman. Again, he is truly excellent, 
endorsed by his former coclerks on the Supreme Court, including those 
who clerked for Justices Rehnquist, Thomas, O'Connor, Kennedy, and 
Scalia.
  John Podhoretz, a conservative columnist, wrote that Furman should be 
confirmed because he is ``terrifically knowledgeable, entirely 
respectful of views that differ from his, and utterly without an axe to 
grind.'' That is why he passed without discussion out of the Judiciary 
Committee without dissent.
  Please, colleagues, a vote for Furman will show that we can come 
together certainly on a judge of such moderation. A vote against him 
will say the system is irreparably broken.
  I thank the Chair.
  I yield the floor.

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