[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 117 (Thursday, August 2, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S5962]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO JOE MATAL

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to recognize the 
service of one of my longtime legal counsels on the Judiciary 
Committee, Joe Matal. Joe will be leaving the Senate in a few weeks 
after 12 years of Senate service, and I wanted to say a few words of 
thanks.
  Joe is well-known on Capitol Hill as a sharp, tenacious, and 
principled lawyer who fights hard for principle and the public good. It 
is frankly remarkable to reflect on the breadth of issues where Joe has 
played a major role in his years of service, but I will list a few.
  Joe was intimately involved in our efforts to grapple with post-9/11 
realities, in particular through the Military Commissions Act and the 
Detainee Treatment Act and the reauthorizations of the USA Patriot Act.
  Joe has been instrumental in efforts to ensure appropriate DNA 
testing of criminals and to ensure that the rape-kit backlogs are 
cleared. He worked on the Adam Walsh Act and the Internet SAFETY Act. 
He is a go-to lawyer on criminal sentencing issues. Very recently, he 
has been an essential adviser on negotiations relating to the 
cybersecurity legislation.
  I could go on and on. Joe has worked on the animal crush video law I 
sponsored, on False Claims Act amendments, on open government laws, and 
on legal reform bills such as asbestos litigation reform, the Class 
Action Fairness Act, and Bankruptcy Reform. He is also an expert on 
Indian Law and has been an indispensable counsel on my work that 
relates to Indian Country in Arizona, but also on Indian policy 
nationwide.
  Finally, and most obviously, in recent years Joe has justly earned 
the respect of the legal and policy community nationwide as a major 
force in the development of the patent reform bill that Congress passed 
a year ago. In fact, when Joe leaves my office, he will remain in 
government service and begin work as an assistant solicitor in the U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Office. Joe's service there will be essential 
given that the agency is continuing to implement the patent reform bill 
that Joe did so much to create.
  I would be remiss if I did not also note that some of Joe's important 
service has been in the bills he helped ensure did not become law. Our 
job as legislators is not to jump at every shadow, but to exercise 
caution when others seek to rush ill-considered legislation through the 
body. Joe's counsel and his strategic guidance have been essential in 
protecting the Nation from many, many bills that would have been 
contrary to good public policy.
  So I want to thank Joe and wish him the best as he leaves for the 
PTO. I also want to thank his wife, Maren, and his three children, 
John, Liddy, and Margaret, for supporting him in these years of public 
service. I appreciate Joe's hard work and patriotic service and wish 
him the best in his new position.

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