[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 29, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6999-S7001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this month, the Senate passed a resolution
recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month and celebrating Hispanic Americans
as dedicated public servants in the highest levels of government. These
great Americans include a Supreme Court Justice, 3 U.S. Senators, 34
members of the House of Representatives, and 3 members of the
President's Cabinet. I commend the U.S. Senate for passing this
resolution celebrating Hispanic heritage, but we should be doing much
more than approving a resolution. We should be working on a bipartisan
basis to pass comprehensive immigration reform, as the Senate did last
Congress under a Democratic majority. At the same time, the Senate
should immediately confirm the several judicial nominees supported by
the nonpartisan Hispanic National Bar Association.
There are three outstanding Hispanic judicial nominees that are
currently pending on the Senate's Executive Calendar: Luis Felipe
Restrepo, nominated to a judicial emergency vacancy in the Third
Circuit; Armando Bonilla, nominated to a judicial vacancy in the Court
of Federal Claims; and John Michael Vazquez, nominated to a judicial
emergency vacancy in the district of New Jersey. A fourth, Dax Lopez,
has been nominated to a judicial vacancy in the Northern District of
Georgia, and is still awaiting a hearing in the Judiciary Committee.
These dedicated public servants are eager to serve, but they have
been blocked by the Republican leadership's virtual shutdown of the
judicial confirmation process since they took over the majority in
January. More than 8 months into this new Congress, the Republican
leadership has allowed just six votes for judges. At this rate, the
Senate this year will confirm the fewest number of judges in more than
a half century. Luis Felipe Restrepo, Armando Bonilla, John Michael
Vazquez, and Dax Lopez all deserve an up or down vote by this Senate.
Judge Restrepo was nominated last year to fill an emergency vacancy
on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Pennsylvania. If
confirmed, Judge Restrepo would be the first Hispanic judge from
Pennsylvania to ever serve on this appellate court and only the second
Hispanic judge to serve on the Third Circuit. He was unanimously
confirmed 2 years ago by the Senate to serve as a district court judge.
During his tenure as both a Federal district court judge and as a
Federal magistrate judge, he has presided over 56 trials that have gone
to verdict or judgment. He is superbly qualified, and I have heard no
objection to his nomination. Despite his outstanding credentials and
experience, it took the Republican majority 7 months just to schedule a
hearing in the Judiciary Committee for this qualified nominee.
Judge Restrepo has bipartisan support from both Pennsylvania Senators
and was voted out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously by voice vote.
He has the strong endorsement of the nonpartisan Hispanic National Bar
Association. At his confirmation hearing in June, Senator Toomey stated
that ``there is no question Judge Restrepo is a very well-qualified
candidate to serve on the Third Circuit.'' Senator Toomey described
Judge Restrepo's life story as ``an American dream'' and recounted how
Judge Restrepo came to the United States from Colombia and rose to the
top of his profession by ``virtue of his hard work, his intellect, his
integrity.'' I could not agree more.
Given his remarkable credentials, wealth of experience, and strong
bipartisan support, the Senate should have confirmed Judge Restrepo
months ago. Instead, for 10 months since his nomination back in
November 2014, he has been denied a vote on his confirmation. No Senate
Democrat opposes a vote on his nomination. He is being denied a
confirmation vote by Senate Republican leadership. No one doubts that
he
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will be confirmed once Majority Leader McConnell schedules his vote. I
have heard Senator Toomey indicate his strong support and that he would
like to see Judge Restrepo receive a vote, but I have yet to see him
ask for a firm commitment on a vote. The people of Pennsylvania are no
doubt wondering when this longstanding and emergency vacancy on their
appeals court will be filled.
Another outstanding public servant is Armando Bonilla, who was first
nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims back in May
2014. If confirmed, Mr. Bonilla would be the first Hispanic judge to
hold a seat on that court. He is strongly endorsed by the Hispanic
National Bar Association. He has spent his entire career, now spanning
over two decades, as an attorney for the Department of Justice. He was
hired out of law school into the Department's prestigious Honors
Program and has risen to become an associate deputy attorney general in
the Department.
Armando Bonilla's background is also one that reminds us of the
American dream. The son of a Cuban immigrant and Cuban American father,
Mr. Bonilla has told the story of his mother's flight from Havana with
his aunt and his grandmother. He has told the story of his uncle, ``Tio
Mario,'' who eventually disappeared trying to help other exiles. And he
has told the story of his father, who dropped out of high school, but
served our country by joining the Marines and took on several jobs to
support Armando and his sister. As Mr. Bonilla has beautifully
described, his father ``exemplified the most outstanding qualities of
the Hispanic culture and Hispanic people: the selfless sacrifice, the
steely resolve, and unbridled optimism and the genuine pride in an
honest day's work--all toward the cause of improving the lives of the
next generation.'' Mr. Bonilla should be confirmed without further
delay.
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has been operating with several
vacancies since February 2013. Only 11 of the 16 seats on the court are
occupied by active judges. We could have a court working at full
strength if we confirmed Mr. Bonilla and the other four nominees
pending on the Senate Executive Calendar. All five of them were
nominated more than a year ago and have twice been voted out of the
Judiciary Committee by unanimous voice vote. There is no good reason to
delay an up-or-down vote for these uncontroversial nominees.
John Michael Vazquez was nominated to a judicial emergency vacancy in
the district of New Jersey in March. He has been a public servant for
both the Office of the Attorney General for the State of New Jersey and
as a Federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in the District
of New Jersey. During his tenure in the U.S. attorney's office, Mr.
Vazquez handled a wide array of Federal investigations and prosecutions
while serving in the general crimes unit, the major narcotics unit, the
terrorism unit, and the securities and health care fraud unit.
The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated
Mr. Vazquez ``Well Qualified'' to serve as a district judge, its
highest rating. He also has the support of his two home State Senators,
Senators Menendez and Booker. He was voted out of the Judiciary
Committee by voice vote. There is no reason why Mr. Vazquez, along with
Judge Restrepo and Mr. Bonilla, should not be confirmed today. Each of
the outstanding Hispanic judicial nominees pending on the floor will be
confirmed overwhelmingly if Majority Leader McConnell will simply
schedule a confirmation vote.
Over the past 7 years, the Senate has acted to confirm some
outstanding Hispanic American judicial nominees. President Obama
nominated the first Latina to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, as well
as the first Latino circuit judges in three circuits: Alberto Diaz on
the fourth circuit, Adalberto Jordan on the 11th circuit, and Jimmie
Reyna on the Federal Circuit; and has already appointed 35 Hispanic
Americans to serve on the Federal bench, more than any other president
in history. But this record does not mean that the Senate should shut
down any further confirmations as some in the majority may desire. The
Senate has an obligation to vote on judicial nominees in regular order
and to consider them fairly based on their individual merit.
A recent report from The Brookings Institution dated September 18,
2015, confirms that the Republican obstruction on judicial nominees is
unprecedented in recent history. It states: ``Senate Republicans'
aggressive slowdown in judicial confirmations so far in 2015 . . . are
contrary to the confirmation records in the final two years of the
other two-term presidencies since 1961--Ronald Reagan, William Clinton,
and George W. Bush.'' And a recent report by the Alliance for Justice,
dated September 17, 2015, notes that ``the burgeoning vacancies are the
result of playing politics with judicial selection. And the victims are
the people and businesses who cannot access courts to seek justice and
the judges who must shoulder the burden of increased caseloads and
fewer resources.''
I urge all Senators to read these reports as well as a recent story
in the Associated Press that highlights the real consequences of Senate
Republicans' judicial blockade. The story highlights a case brought by
Latino migrant farmworkers for wage theft in Federal district court in
eastern California. I ask unanimous consent that the Associated Press
article be printed in the Record. The workers have waited more than 3
years to learn whether they can proceed with their claim. As years go
by, the workers' attorney worries that her clients will have moved and
be impossible to reach if and when she is able to recover their stolen
wages. This is another heartbreaking example that justice delayed is
effectively justice denied. The Senate, however, can act right now to
alleviate the considerable backlog of cases in the Eastern District of
California by confirming the noncontroversial pending nominee for this
court, Federal Magistrate Judge Dale Drozd. Judge Drozd was voice voted
out of the Judiciary Committee in June, and there is no reason why we
cannot vote today on his confirmation.
The Republican leadership's virtual shutdown of judicial
confirmations has only served to undermine the judicial branch and harm
the American people. I urge Senate Republicans to change course and
lead responsibly. The Senate should immediately turn to the
confirmation vote of Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo and then schedule
confirmation votes for the other 15 judicial nominees, including Mr.
Bonilla and Mr. Vazquez, without further delay.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Associated Press, Sept. 27, 2015]
Wheels of Justice Slow at Overloaded Federal Courts
(By Sudhin Thanawala)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)--Attorney Martha Gomez has been waiting
more than three years to hear from a federal court whether a
group of farm workers in California's Central Valley can
proceed with their lawsuit alleging wage theft.
The case in California's Eastern District could result in
payouts for thousands of migrant workers, but each passing
day raises the possibility that they will have moved on and
be impossible to track down, Gomez said.
``Everybody is in limbo, and it's hard to explain that,''
she said.
Across the country, federal district courts have seen a
rise in recent years in the time it takes to get civil cases
to trial and resolve felony criminal cases as judges'
workloads have increased, according to statistics from the
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
The problem is particularly acute in some federal courts
such as California's and Texas's Eastern Districts. Judges
there have workloads about twice the national average and say
they are struggling to keep up.
The result, the judges and attorneys say, is longer wait
times in prison for defendants awaiting trial, higher costs
for civil lawsuits and delays that can render those suits
moot.
``I think it's fair to say that things are quite bad,''
said Matt Menendez, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for
Justice at New York University School of Law who has studied
judicial caseloads.
Legal scholars say Congress needs to fill judicial
vacancies more quickly but also increase the number of judges
in some districts--both issues that get bogged down in
partisan political fights over judicial nominees.
California's Eastern District, which covers a large swath
of the state that includes Sacramento and Fresno, has had an
unfilled judicial vacancy for nearly three years, and it has
the same number of judicial positions--six--it had in 1978,
according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
The Judicial Conference of the United States, the national
policy-making body for
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the federal courts, has recommended Congress double the
number of judicial positions in the district.
In the late 1990s, the median time for civil cases to go to
trial in the district averaged 2 years and four months. From
2009 to 2014, that number jumped by more than a year. The
median time to resolve criminal cases nearly doubled to an
average of 13 months.
``You're never out from under it,'' said Morrison England,
the court's chief judge. ``You're constantly trying to do
what you can to get these cases resolved, and we just can't
do it.''
The weighted caseload per judge has climbed from an average
of nearly 600 in the late 1990s to over a 1,000.
The Eastern District of Texas has seen similar increases.
``The way one older judge put it to me: 'If you have too
many cases, you start to lose the time to think about
them,''' said Ron Clark, the court's chief judge.
The vacancy in California's Eastern District is in Fresno,
which is down to just one full-time district court judge.
Attorneys say they are reluctant to file cases in the
Fresno court because of delays and have faced additional
expenses from having to drive to Sacramento when their case
gets assigned to a judge there who has been called in to
help.
Gomez's April 2012 lawsuit was filed in Fresno and alleges
that Castlerock Farming and Transport forced the workers--
grape harvesters--to work off the clock and did not provide
them with proper rest breaks.
Jim Hanlon, an attorney for Castlerock, said he does not
comment on pending cases. The company says in court documents
it did not directly employ the workers and has already
defended their claims in a separate lawsuit.
Anthony Raimondo, an attorney for another defendant in the
case, said at least some of the time it's taken to resolve
the lawsuit can be attributed to its complexity.
The case lists multiple defendants and alleged labor code
violations and seeks class action status on behalf of as many
as several thousand employees. Early on, the judge overseeing
the case, Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii, put it on
hold pending a class certification ruling in a related case.
But Raimando and Gomez say there have been delays that
appear to have no explanation other than a backlogged court.
Castlerock, for example, filed a motion to dismiss the
lawsuit last September that the judge has yet to rule on.
A woman who answered the phone in Ishii's chambers said he
would be away until the end of September and unavailable for
comment.
Lawrence O'Neill, the one full-time district court judge in
Fresno, said he could not comment on any pending case. But he
said the court's caseload has made it difficult to get trial
dates for civil cases.
He pointed to two cases on his docket--one alleging
excessive force by police and the other race and sex
discrimination by an employer--that were filed in 2013, but
won't go to trial until 2017.
``We can slow things down because we simply can't work any
harder or faster,'' he said. ``But the real important effect
of that is people who need our help to move their lives
forward are delayed.''
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