[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 19, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S84-S86]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination,
which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of
Wilhelmina Marie Wright, of Minnesota, to be United States District
Judge for the District of Minnesota.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 30
minutes of debate.
The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am proud to rise in support of
Justice Wilhelmina Wright's confirmation as a district court judge for
the District of Minnesota. Justice Wright, as the members of the
Judiciary Committee learned during her fine hearing, is a dedicated
public servant with a distinguished career spanning the State and
Federal legal system. She is the first person in the history of
Minnesota to serve at all three levels of the judiciary and receive
this nomination. She served as a district court judge in Minnesota, she
served for the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and she now serves on the
Minnesota Supreme Court. Her 15 years of judicial experience make her
ready to do this job on day one, and I can state that when you hear the
statistics about the overload for the District of Minnesota, we need
her to start tomorrow on day one.
Her qualifications are impeccable. Justice Wright has sat on panels
deciding over 2,000 cases and presided over nearly 700. Yet with all
those cases and all these opinions, there were no serious questions
raised at all about her being biased or unfair in some way in her work
as a judge. In fact, it was the opposite. She has the support of former
Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican, and many others in our State who
have served across the aisle. Her qualifications reveal a thoughtful
and a talented jurist, one who applies the law to the facts of each
case.
Justice Wright currently serves as associate justice of the Minnesota
Supreme Court, a position she has had since her appointment in 2012. As
the first African-American woman to serve on the court, Justice Wright
has earned the respect of litigants, lawyers, and judicial colleagues
alike.
Justice Wright was born in Norfolk, VA. She graduated from Yale
College cum laude in 1986 and received her law degree from Harvard Law
School in 1989. After law school, Justice Wright clerked for Judge
Damon Keith of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She then went into
private practice for 5 years at Hogan & Hartson. Before long she felt
the pull of public service. She joined the Office of the U.S. Attorney
for the District of Minnesota and has been a dependable and dedicated
leader of the Minnesota legal system ever since that time. During her
time as a Federal prosecutor, she received the U.S. Department of
Justice Director's Award and the Department's Special Achievement
Award.
If you look at her path before she became a judge, every step of the
way she excelled. She excelled growing up. She excelled in college and
law school in terms of her record. She excelled as a judicial clerk,
she excelled in private practice, and she excelled in the U.S.
attorney's office, where she received numerous awards. She was then
appointed by, I believe, Gov. Jesse Ventura. She did not start her
career as a political appointee. He was in the Independent Party. She
served as a Ramsey County district court judge from 2000 to 2002, when
she was appointed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
She served for 10 years until her most recent appointment to the
Minnesota Supreme Court. Justice Wright is also involved in a variety
of civic and bar activities. She devotes 50 hours per year to educating
the public on the law.
If that is not enough, Justice Wright has also worked to improve the
legal system. She has been a member of the Minnesota Judicial Council,
the Minnesota Courts Public Trust and Confidence Working Group, and the
Minnesota State Bar Association Task Force on the Minnesota Bar
Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct. In 2006, the Minnesota
Women Lawyers honored her with the Myra Bradwell Award for her service,
and in 2012 the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers presented her
with the President's Award.
The law has always been more than a profession for Justice Wright. It
has been central to her own development. Growing up, she watched her
parents fight the Norfolk, VA, school system to ensure her access to
the same educational opportunities as everyone else. The protections
enforced by the legal system were crucial to her family's struggle. As
Justice Wright has said about the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v.
Board of Education: ``Aside from the Bible, that court order was the
most important written document in my family's life.''
[[Page S85]]
The law worked for Justice Wright. In turn, she has dedicated her own
life to the law and to fairness and impartiality.
Justice Wright deserves to be confirmed. As I said, the Judiciary
Committee hearing went extremely well. She has the support of many
members of the committee. In fact, her nomination went through without
an objection when we had the vote. She explained any questions that the
members of the Judiciary Committee had--and there were some, obviously.
A very good Senator asked a lot of questions on the committee. She
explained any question they had about past legal writings from law
school and other issues. They felt secure in her nomination and passed
her out of committee without any objection. No new issues have been
raised since that time. There were no serious questions about the 2,300
cases she handled. I can't think of many nominees we have had with that
kind of record.
I would add that this nomination is particularly important to the
District of Minnesota. The U.S. Judicial Conference has deemed the
current vacancy in our State to be a judicial emergency. Our district
caseload has increased significantly in recent years. In 2014, the
district saw a 57-percent jump in case filings, with nearly 6,000
Federal cases currently pending. Judge Davis assumed senior status last
August, vacating the position for which she has been nominated. Failing
to fill this judicial vacancy is failing the people of Minnesota.
I am so proud of my colleagues and thank them for their support, both
Democrats and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee who will be voting
for her today. Justice Wright is the type of nominee we strive for--the
best candidate for the job. We had a bipartisan committee led by two
private practice lawyers, one having served as U.S. attorney for the
State of Minnesota under the first President Bush and the second
President Bush, Tom Heffelfinger. He chaired this committee which
looked at so many qualified nominees and made this recommendation to
Senator Franken and myself. So this process from the beginning has been
completely bipartisan and impeccable and we are proud of that process.
The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated
Justice Wright as ``well qualified'' to serve as a district court judge
for the District of Minnesota, which is the highest rating the
committee awards. It is based on a confidential peer review of Justice
Wright's professional competence, integrity, and judicial temperament.
As Senator Coleman, a former Senator from the State of Minnesota, a
Republican Senator, said: ``I fully support her nomination and have
communicated that to my former colleagues.''
Why does Senator Coleman support this nomination? Because he looked
at the record of a woman of integrity, a woman who had not one case
questioned before the very thorough Judiciary Committee, who has the
support of many of the Republican Senators--no objections raised when
the vote was taken. This is exactly the kind of nominee we want.
Justice Wilhelmina Wright will make a fine Federal district court
judge for the District of Minnesota. I urge all my colleagues to
support this superb nominee. The people of Minnesota need and deserve a
judge of Wilhelmina Wright's caliber. We are proud of our Federal
judges in Minnesota. Some came from Democratic administrations, some
came out of Republican administrations, but they have always had the
reputation of integrity. Justice Wright will continue to uphold that
reputation of integrity.
I ask my colleagues to support her.
Thank you, Mr. President, and I yield the floor. I also see that my
colleague Senator Franken is here as well.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. FRANKEN. Thank you, Mr. President.
I thank the senior Senator from Minnesota for her remarks about
Wilhelmina Wright. I join her in rising not just in strong support but
enthusiastic support for Justice Wilhelmina Wright's nomination to
serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. We call
her Justice Wright because she is on the Minnesota Supreme Court. She
has been an excellent consensus nominee.
I would like to thank Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Leahy for
working to ensure that the Judiciary Committee reported out her
nomination favorably. I would also like to thank Leader McConnell for
scheduling this afternoon's vote.
As of today, Justice Wright's nomination has been pending for 279
days--more than 9 months. The seat she has been nominated to fill has
been declared a judicial emergency. So I am pleased the Senate is
moving to confirm Justice Wright and that Minnesotans seeking justice
will soon be able to have their day in court.
Justice Wright is, without question, the best candidate for this
position. Not only did she earn a stellar reputation as a Federal
prosecutor in Minnesota, but Justice Wright is the only person in our
State's history to serve as a judge at all three levels of Minnesota's
judiciary. In her 15 years on the bench, Justice Wright has heard more
than 2,000 cases, and none of her rulings in those cases raised concern
during her hearing, which is why her nomination was approved without
objection by the Judiciary Committee in September. For those who have
known her, this comes as no surprise. Justice Wright understands the
role of a judge. Her unwavering commitment to fairness and
impartiality, as well as her reputation for professionalism, explains
why Justice Wright enjoys a deep well of support in Minnesota from both
sides of the aisle, and I emphasize that.
Senator Klobuchar and I formed a bipartisan selection committee to
assist us in identifying a nominee for this vacancy. That committee was
cochaired by Tom Heffelfinger, a Republican former U.S. attorney for
the District of Minnesota under Presidents George H.W. Bush and George
W. Bush. They are two different people, H.W. and W. Bush, both
Presidents.
In recommending Justice Wright to Senator Klobuchar and to me, Mr.
Heffelfinger said that her nomination ``continues the long Minnesota
tradition of selecting federal judges based on their professionalism
and experience, rather than political connections. Justice Wright
embodies everything one could look for in a federal judge: experience,
intellectual firepower, a calm and patient demeanor, and a deep
personal understanding of the issues facing the people of this
country.''
I think everybody on that panel absolutely agreed with Tom
Heffelfinger, who is a great public servant. If Tom Heffelfinger, who
is a great public figure himself, says those words, they are high
praise indeed. And it was echoed by other conservative voices before
Justice Wright's hearing before the Judiciary Committee. Chairman
Grassley noted that several Republicans had called him to voice support
for her nomination. One of those calls came from my colleague in the
House, Representative Erik Paulsen, who represents Minnesota's Third
District.
It is clear to me why the people of my State, regardless of their
political persuasion, support her nomination. Justice Wright's
integrity, her dedication to public service, and her commitment to
equal justice reflect Minnesota values.
I strongly urge that all of my colleagues support Wilhelmina Wright,
and I look forward to her confirmation. This is very important. We have
other judges who are up for confirmation who come from States such as
Iowa and Nebraska. They have been signed off by both of their Senators,
including the Presiding Officer. This is a bipartisan commission with
bipartisan support, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote for Justice
Wilhelmina Wright, who now sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court, to sit
on the Federal district court.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, yesterday, our Nation celebrated the
birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is a hero to millions of
Americans for
[[Page S86]]
helping to break down racial barriers in this country. It is fitting
that today the Senate is turning to a confirmation vote that will
increase racial diversity on our Federal bench. Justice Wilhelmina
Wright is nominated to a judicial emergency vacancy on the U.S.
District Court for the District of Minnesota. Justice Wright currently
serves on the Minnesota Supreme Court. She is the first African-
American woman to serve on that court and the first person in Minnesota
history to serve as a judge at all three levels of the State judiciary.
I commend Senators Klobuchar and Franken for their tireless efforts
in helping to move this nomination to a vote. A vote on her nomination
is long overdue. Justice Wright was nominated in April 2015, over 9
months ago. She was reported out of the Judiciary Committee by
unanimous voice vote over 4 months ago. After months of needless delay,
we could and should have voted to confirm her at the end of the last
session.
I know Justice Wright will make a superb Federal judge. Since 2012,
she has served as an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
From 2002 to 2012, she served on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and
prior to her tenure on that court, she was the first African-American
to serve as a judge on the district court in the second judicial
district, Ramsey County, Minnesota, from 2000 to 2002. In her 15-year
judicial career, Justice Wright has presided over or served on panels
that decided more than 2,000 cases.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, she was a Federal prosecutor
for the district of Minnesota for 5 years. Justice Wright graduated
with her B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and earned her law
degree from Harvard Law School. Upon graduating from law school, she
clerked for Judge Damon J. Keith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Eighth Circuit. With her considerable professional experience, it is no
surprise that the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has
unanimously rated her ``Well Qualified'' to serve on the district
court, its highest rating. She also has the enthusiastic support of her
home State Senators, Senators Franken and Klobuchar.
Based on her wealth of judicial experience and broad support, I
cannot think of any good reason why Justice Wright should not be
confirmed with an overwhelming vote.
After Justice Wright is confirmed, there will be votes under a
bipartisan agreement on three other district court nominees--one to the
district of New Jersey, one to the southern district of Iowa, and one
to the northern district of Iowa. These nominees will be confirmed by
President's Day. After we return to session in February, I hope that
Republican leadership will continue to schedule nominees for
confirmation votes to address the 72 current judicial vacancies that we
face today, 32 of which are judicial emergencies.
A Politico article last week discussed demands from certain extreme
conservative groups for Republican leadership to shut down the
confirmation process and block all judicial confirmations for the
remainder of the year. I am hopeful that the majority leader will not
let moneyed Washington interests decide whether we will uphold our
Senatorial oath to provide advice and consent to the President on
judicial nominations. Shutting down all judicial confirmations would be
a dangerous departure from prior practice. In the last 5 Presidential
election years, the Senate has confirmed an average of 30 judicial
nominees in the final year prior to Election Day. As both chairman and
ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, I have worked with
Republicans to confirm judicial nominees, report nominees out of
committee, and hold hearings for nominees well into September of
Presidential election years.
This was the case in 2008, when I was chairman of the committee with
a Republican President, and we worked to confirm judicial nominees as
late as September of the Presidential election year. In fact, Senate
Democrats helped confirm all 10 of President Bush's district court
nominees pending on the Senate floor in a single day by unanimous
consent on September 26, 2008. This was similarly true in 2004, when I
was ranking member of the committee with a Republican President, and we
worked to confirm nominees as late as September of the Presidential
election year.
Any attempt to shut down the judicial confirmation process to satisfy
moneyed Washington interests groups would be wrong. It would only work
to harm our justice system and the American people we were elected to
represent. Outstanding nominees from Tennessee, Maryland, New Jersey,
Nebraska, New York, and California have been pending on the floor for
months. Nearly all of them would fill emergency vacancies. Votes on
these nominees must be scheduled without further delay.
In addition to these pending nominees, there are also four
Pennsylvania district court nominees and a Rhode Island nominee that
the Senate Judiciary Committee is poised to report out this month. And
in committee, nominees from States represented by Republican Senators--
including Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin, and Indiana--
continue to wait for a hearing. It is up to the Senators from those
States to urge their leadership to consider these nominees without
delay so they can serve the people of those great States.
I urge a vote for her confirmation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all time on both sides be
yielded back.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination
of Wilhelmina Marie Wright, of Minnesota, to be United States District
Judge for the District of Minnesota?
Mr. ALEXANDER. 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 legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator
from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio),
and the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott).
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) is
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gardner). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 58, nays 36, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 3 Ex.]
YEAS--58
Alexander
Ayotte
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Boxer
Brown
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coats
Collins
Coons
Corker
Donnelly
Durbin
Ernst
Feinstein
Flake
Franken
Gillibrand
Grassley
Hatch
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Hirono
Kaine
King
Kirk
Klobuchar
Leahy
Manchin
Markey
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Peters
Reed
Reid
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall
Vitter
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--36
Barrasso
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Cassidy
Cochran
Cotton
Crapo
Daines
Enzi
Fischer
Gardner
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Lankford
Lee
McCain
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rounds
Sasse
Sessions
Shelby
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Wicker
NOT VOTING--6
Cornyn
Cruz
Graham
Rubio
Sanders
Scott
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
____________________