[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 174 (Tuesday, December 10, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8594-S8595]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATION OF CORNELIA T. L. PILLARD TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Mr. REID. I now move to proceed to reconsider the vote by which
cloture was not invoked on the Pillard nomination.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. THUNE. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).
The result was announced--yeas 54, nays 44, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 253 Ex.]
YEAS--54
Baldwin
Baucus
Begich
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Boxer
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Donnelly
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Hagan
Harkin
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Hirono
Johnson (SD)
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Markey
McCaskill
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--44
Alexander
Ayotte
Barrasso
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Chambliss
Coats
Coburn
Cochran
Collins
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
Enzi
Fischer
Flake
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson (WI)
Lee
Manchin
McCain
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rubio
Scott
Sessions
Shelby
Thune
Toomey
Vitter
Wicker
NOT VOTING--2
Cruz
Kirk
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which
cloture was not invoked on the Pillard nomination.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 54, nays 44, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 254 Ex.]
YEAS--54
Baldwin
Baucus
Begich
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Boxer
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Donnelly
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Hagan
Harkin
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Hirono
Johnson (SD)
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Markey
McCaskill
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--44
Alexander
Ayotte
Barrasso
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Chambliss
Coats
Coburn
Cochran
Collins
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
Enzi
Fischer
Flake
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson (WI)
Lee
Manchin
McCain
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rubio
Scott
Sessions
Shelby
Thune
Toomey
Vitter
Wicker
NOT VOTING--2
Cruz
Kirk
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, for the second time in a month, we
are debating whether to allow a confirmation vote on the nomination of
Nina Pillard to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
Yesterday, we were finally able to vote on the nomination of Patricia
Millett after many months of being filibustered by Senate Republicans.
I am glad we are making more progress today on another exceptional
nominee.
The DC Circuit is often considered to be the second most important
court in the Nation and should be operating at full strength. Today we
will take a step towards making this court operate at full strength for
the American people.
In late November, a bipartisan majority of Senators voted in favor of
moving to an up-or-down vote on Nina Pillard's nomination, but we fell
short by three votes. The same efforts to remove the Republican
blockade of this President's nominees to fill vacancies on the DC
Circuit that allowed the Senate to confirm Patricia Millett earlier
this week will similarly allow the Senate to move forward on Nina
Pillard's nomination so she can be confirmed and get to work for the
American people.
Nina Pillard is an accomplished litigator whose work includes nine
Supreme Court oral arguments, and briefs in more than 25 Supreme Court
cases. She drafted the Federal Government's brief in United States v.
Virginia, which after a 7-1 decision by the Supreme Court made history
by opening the Virginia Military Institute's doors to female students
and expanded educational opportunity for women across the country.
Since then, hundreds of women have had the opportunity to attend VMI
and go on to serve our country.
Ms. Pillard has not only stood for equal opportunities for women but
for men as well. In Nevada v. Hibbs, Ms. Pillard successfully
represented a male employee of the State of Nevada who was fired when
he tried to take unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act to
care for his sick wife. In a 6-3 opinion authored by then-Chief Justice
William Rehnquist, the Supreme Court ruled for her client, recognizing
that the law protects both men and women in their caregiving roles
within the family.
She has also worked at the Department of Justice as the Deputy
Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, an office
that advises on the most complex constitutional issues facing the
executive branch. And prior to that, Ms. Pillard litigated numerous
civil rights cases as an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense &
Educational Fund. At Georgetown Law, Ms. Pillard teaches advanced
courses on constitutional law and civil procedure, and co-directs the
law school's Supreme Court Institute.
She has earned the American Bar Association's highest possible
ranking--Unanimously Well Qualified--to serve as a Federal appellate
judge on the DC Circuit. She also has significant bipartisan support.
Viet Dinh, the former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of
Legal Policy under President George W. Bush, has written that ``Based
on our long and varied professional experience together, I know that
Professor Pillard is exceptionally bright, a patient and unbiased
listener, and a lawyer of great judgment and unquestioned integrity . .
. Nina has always been fair, reasonable, and sensible in her judgments
. . . She is a fair-minded thinker with enormous respect for the law
and for the limited, and essential, role of the federal appellate
judge--qualities that make her well prepared to take on the work of a
DC Federal Judge.''
Former FBI Director and Chief Judge of the Western District of Texas
William Sessions has written that her ``rare combination of experience,
both defending and advising government officials, and representing
individuals seeking to vindicate their rights, would be especially
valuable in informing her responsibilities as a judge.''
Nina Pillard has also received letters of support from 30 former
members of the U.S. Armed Forces, including 8 retired generals; 25
former Federal prosecutors and other law enforcement officials; 40
Supreme Court practitioners, including Laurence Tribe and Carter
Phillips, among many others.
Despite having filled nearly half of law school classrooms for the
last 20 years, women are grossly underrepresented on our Federal
courts. We
[[Page S8595]]
need women on the Federal bench. A vote to end this filibuster is a
vote to break yet another barrier and move in the historic direction of
having our Federal appellate courts more accurately reflect the gender
balance of the country.
I commend President Obama on his nominations of highly qualified
women such as Nina Pillard, Patricia Millett, Elena Kagan and Sonia
Sotomayor. In each of these women, the Senate has had the opportunity
to vote to confirm women practicing at the pinnacle of the legal
profession. Once the Senate confirmed Justice Kagan, the highest court
in the land had more women than ever before serving on its bench. With
the confirmation and appointment of Nina Pillard, the same will be true
for what many consider to be the second highest court in the land, the
DC Circuit, because she will be the fifth active female judge on the
court. Never before have five women jurists actively served on that
court at one time. I look forward to that moment and to further
increasing the diversity of our federal bench.
I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of ending the filibuster on
this outstanding nominee. This Nation would be better off for Nina
Pillard serving as a judge on the DC Circuit.
Cloture Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to
invoke cloture on the Pillard nomination, upon reconsideration.
Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending
cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The bill clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of
Cornelia T. L. Pillard, of the District of Columbia, to be
United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia
Circuit.
Harry Reid, Patrick J. Leahy, Richard J. Durbin, John D.
Rockefeller IV, Benjamin L. Cardin, Jon Tester, Sheldon
Whitehouse, Mark R. Warner, Patty Murray, Mazie K.
Hirono, Angus S. King, Jr., Barbara Boxer, Jeanne
Shaheen, Robert Menendez, Bill Nelson, Debbie Stabenow,
Richard Blumenthal.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum
call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
nomination of Cornelia T. L. Pillard, of the District of Columbia, to
be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit,
shall be brought to a close, upon reconsideration?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 56, nays 42, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 255 Ex.]
YEAS--56
Baldwin
Baucus
Begich
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Boxer
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Collins
Coons
Donnelly
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Hagan
Harkin
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Hirono
Johnson (SD)
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Markey
McCaskill
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--42
Alexander
Ayotte
Barrasso
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Chambliss
Coats
Coburn
Cochran
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
Enzi
Fischer
Flake
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson (WI)
Lee
Manchin
McCain
McConnell
Moran
Paul
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rubio
Scott
Sessions
Shelby
Thune
Toomey
Vitter
Wicker
NOT VOTING--2
Cruz
Kirk
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination.
The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Cornelia T. L.
Pillard, of the District of Columbia, to be United States Circuit Judge
for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
____________________