[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 114 (Monday, July 21, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4648-S4649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           CARNES NOMINATION

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, in a few moments the Senate will be 
called upon to confirm the nomination of the Honorable Julie Carnes to 
the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Georgia. I stand, along with 
my colleague Senator Saxby Chambliss, the senior Senator from Georgia, 
to commend Ms. Carnes to the entire body as an outstanding appointment.
  I thank the President. Senator Chambliss and I recommended Ms. Carnes 
when the openings took place on the 11th Circuit Court. He, with the 
advice of Kathy Ruemmler, his able assistant in the judicial part of 
his advisory board, brought the nomination forward to the Judiciary 
Committee of the Senate. I thank Pat Leahy, the Senator from Vermont, 
the chairman of that committee, and Chuck Grassley from Iowa, the 
ranking member of that committee, for doing a judicious hearing, for 
giving all sides a chance to be heard, and for commending unanimously, 
on a voice vote, Julie Carnes to the Senate.
  I am not going to talk for a long time, but I want to make a couple 
of very special points. Julie Carnes is a very special lady. For 22 
years she has been a judge for the Northern District of Georgia, and 
the last 5 years she has been the senior judge. Before that she was on 
advisory panels for judicial sentencing and many other technical and 
judicial issues.
  Her nomination is the nomination of someone with immense capacity, 
outstanding integrity, and outstanding ability. She is just the type of 
person the Presiding Officer and I would want to go to the bench. She 
is, as we call them in Georgia, a ``double dog.'' She graduated from 
the University of Georgia with her undergraduate degree and got her 
juris doctor degree from University of Georgia Law School, whose emblem 
is a bulldog. We call her a ``Double dog.'' She is an outstanding 
individual and will be an outstanding judge on the bench.
  But there is a point of personal privilege I want to take for a 
minute. Up in heaven right now, at a sunset, Charlie Carnes is looking 
down, about to see his daughter Julie confirmed to the United States 
11th Circuit Court.
  Charlie Carnes was my mentor in the Georgia General Assembly for 12 
years before he was appointed to be a State court judge in Fulton 
County, the largest county in the State of Georgia. Charlie is looking 
down on the daughter he is so proud of, and he is so proud that she is 
going to be confirmed by the Senate to one of the highest court 
appointments she could possibly achieve.
  She is a chip off the old block. She is proof that an apple does not 
fall far

[[Page S4649]]

from the tree. Charlie was an outstanding Georgian, an outstanding 
American, an outstanding member of our State and our bar and our bench. 
I am so proud to be a part of those who recommended this nominee to the 
President of the United States.
  I yield for my colleague, Senator Chambliss.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise with my colleague Senator 
Isakson today in support of Judge Julie Carnes, who has been nominated 
by the President to serve as a circuit court judge for the 11th 
Judicial Circuit.
  Judge Carnes has been a Federal district court judge for the Northern 
District of Georgia since 1992. She has been the court's chief judge 
since 2009. Her time on the district court has prepared her well for 
going to the 11th Circuit.
  However, her preparation started long before she was confirmed to her 
current seat on the Northern District bench. For starters, being a 
judge is in her blood. As Senator Isakson referenced, her father 
Charlie Carnes was many things to many people. He was a Navy veteran, a 
State legislator, and a loving father. But for those of us in the 
Georgia legal community, from whence I came, we remember him best for 
his 20 years of service as a Fulton County State court judge, the last 
17 years of which he served as chief judge.
  After growing up in Atlanta, Judge Julie Carnes attended the 
University of Georgia where she earned both her bachelor and her law 
degrees. She then went on to clerk for Judge Lewis Morgan on the old 
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Once she finished her clerkship, she 
served as an assistant U.S. attorney for more than a decade before 
assuming her position on the Northern District court bench. It is 
difficult to imagine a more qualified circuit court nominee than Julie 
Carnes.
  The Senate Judiciary Committee appears to share my confidence. She 
was reported out by voice vote without a single objection to her 
nomination.
  Moreover, this is a seat that needs to be filled, and it needs to be 
filled quickly. The 11th Circuit is the third busiest circuit in the 
country. Senator Isakson and I have been working very closely with the 
White House to address this vacancy since it came on 2 years ago.
  Julie Carnes is my dear friend. I have known her for many years. She 
is the consummate trial court judge, receiving accolades from every 
single sector of the bar that regularly appears before her. Senator 
Isakson and I worked very closely with the President, as he indicated. 
We also worked with Senator Leahy and Senator Grassley and Kathy 
Ruemmler, the White House counsel, whom I particularly commend, someone 
who was very persistent. She was very professional in all of her 
dealings with us. It was a real pleasure to work with the White House 
securing a number of nominees, the first of which to come to this floor 
for confirmation is Judge Julie Carnes. This has been a long and 
arduous process, but there is no questioning its results.
  I am pleased to recommend this highly qualified nominee. I urge my 
colleagues to support her confirmation.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARDIN. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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