[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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