[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 79 (Thursday, June 6, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3990-S3991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: 
Calendar Nos. 141, 142, and 143; that the nominations be confirmed, en 
bloc; the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the 
table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be 
in order to any of the nominations; that any related statements be 
printed in the Record; that President Obama be immediately notified of 
the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today the Senate will confirm Judge Charles 
Breyer, Rachel Barkow, and Judge William Pryor to the U.S. Sentencing 
Commission. While it is good that the Senate is acting to confirm Judge 
Pryor and Rachel Barkow following their unanimous approval by the 
Judiciary Committee 2 weeks ago, it is wrong that Senate Republicans 
forced Judge Breyer to wait so long for confirmation. Judge Breyer was 
first reported unanimously last July, nearly 11 months ago. Despite 
that unanimous support, Senate Republicans, as they have done so many 
times, refused to act on his nomination on the floor and forced the 
President to renominate him this year for no good reason.
  Judge Breyer has an outstanding record in public service, and has 
served as a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California 
since 1998, assuming senior status last year. He has

[[Page S3991]]

also worked in private practice and as a prosecutor--both in the San 
Francisco District Attorney's office and on the Watergate Special 
Prosecution Force. After graduating from law school he served as a law 
clerk to Chief Judge Oliver J. Carter of the U.S. District Court for 
the Northern District of California. Additionally, from 1969 to 1973, 
Judge Breyer was a Captain in the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General's 
Corps. Judge Breyer will be an outstanding addition to the Sentencing 
Commission.
  Rachel Barkow has been a law professor at the New York University 
School of Law for the past 11 years. She previously worked as an 
associate in private practice at Kellogg Huber Hansen Todd & Evans, 
P.L.L.C. in Washington, D.C. In 2001, she took leave from private 
practice to serve as the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Georgetown 
University Law Center. Following law school, Professor Barkow served as 
a law clerk for D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Laurence H. 
Silberman and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
  William Pryor is currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for 
the Eleventh Circuit, a position to which he was confirmed in 2005. 
Prior to becoming a judge, he served as the Attorney General of Alabama 
from 1997 to 2004, where he led the effort to create Alabama's 
sentencing commission.
  I thank the Chair.
  The nominations considered and confirmed are as follows:


                  united states sentencing commission

       Rachel Elise Barkow, of New York, to be a Member of the 
     United States Sentencing Commission for a term expiring 
     October 31, 2017.
       Charles R. Breyer, of California, to be a Member of the 
     United States Sentencing Commission for a term expiring 
     October 31, 2015.
       William H. Pryor, Jr., of Alabama, to be a Member of the 
     United States Sentencing Commission for a term expiring 
     October 31, 2017.

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