[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 178 (Thursday, November 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6975-S6976]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             NOMINATIONS OF ALLISON EID AND STEPHANOS BIBAS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senate continues to press forward 
confirming President Trump's outstanding nominations to the Federal 
courts. Already this week, we have confirmed two strong, smart, and 
talented women to serve on our Nation's circuit courts. Today we will 
consider two more well-qualified nominees: Allison Eid and Stephanos 
Bibas.
  First, we will confirm Allison Eid, whom the President has nominated 
to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Justice 
Eid has big shoes to fill in taking that seat--it became vacant when 
Neil Gorsuch ascended to the Supreme Court. It is a hard act to follow. 
Yet I have every confidence she will excel in the role. You see, 
nominees such as Justice Eid and Professor Bibas are more than just the 
sum of their credentials--although theirs are indeed impressive, and I 
will expand on those credentials in just a moment--nominees such as 
these also believe, like Justice Gorsuch, that the role of a judge is 
to apply the law equally to everyone and to do so as the law is 
actually written, not as they wish it might be.
  As Judge Gorsuch said, ``A judge who likes every outcome he reaches 
is very likely a bad judge--stretching for results he prefers rather 
than those the law demands,'' or, put a different way, ``I don't think 
there are red judges, and I don't think there are blue judges. All 
judges wear black.'' That is the view of Neil Gorsuch. That is the view 
of Allison Eid and Stephanos Bibas. That is just the kind of fair-
minded judge we want serving on the bench and just the kind of fair-
minded judge we are confirming this week, including the exceptional 
nominees before us.
  Justice Allison Eid graduated from the University of Chicago Law 
School with high honors. She earned the opportunity to clerk for Fifth 
Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith and then for Justice Clarence Thomas 
before joining the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Law, 
where she served as a professor for our colleague Senator Gardner. When 
he introduced his former professor before the Judiciary Committee, 
Senator Gardner noted how much she cared about ``robust debates and 
hearing the views of others.''
  ``Justice Eid,'' he said, ``was open to their views, engaging with 
them, and [was] never biased against different perspectives.''
  Later, Justice Eid was appointed to serve as Colorado's solicitor 
general and, in 2006, to the Colorado Supreme Court. Two years later, 
75 percent of Coloradans voted to retain her. Her time on the State's 
high court has been marked by clear and precise writing and judicial 
independence.
  One of Justice Eid's former clerks wrote a column in the Denver Post 
in support of her nomination. As a jurist, this clerk wrote, ``Eid 
commits her full mental energy and attention to each case, carefully 
mastering every legal and factual detail in order to conduct a rigorous 
analysis dictated ultimately by the law.'' In addition, this former 
clerk added a personal touch to Justice Eid's incredible resume:

       For women striving to achieve that elusive balance between 
     family life and a successful career, it can be hard to find 
     strong role models. But Colorado's Allison Eid is a shining 
     example.

  Justice Eid is clearly well qualified for the position to which she 
has been nominated. She is just the kind of fair-minded judge people 
would want hearing their case. I look forward to supporting her 
nomination today, and I ask each of my colleagues to join me in 
confirming the nomination of this extremely well qualified jurist.
  I would ask them to join me in supporting Professor Bibas too. 
Professor Bibas has served as assistant U.S. attorney. He has 
experience in private practice. He has clerked for a circuit court 
judge and for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Today he is a 
professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where, 
according to the former dean of students, he ``enjoys

[[Page S6976]]

the give and take of discussion'' and is ``very fair, considerate, and 
encouraging.''
  Moreover, as a bipartisan group of more than 100 law professors put 
it in a letter to the Judiciary Committee, Professor Bibas's ``fair-
mindedness, conscientiousness, and personal integrity are beyond 
question,'' and in their view, ``his judicial temperament will reflect 
these qualities and . . . he will faithfully discharge his duty to 
apply the law fairly and evenhandedly in all matters before him.''
  Professor Bibas also reminded us that he, like Justice Gorsuch and 
Justice Eid, believes in a fair-minded approach to the law. In his 
words, ``People need to know and believe that judges will apply the law 
impartially and evenhandedly to all litigants, regardless of their 
wealth or power.'' He is right. Let's join together in supporting him 
today.
  I would like to once again thank Judiciary Committee Chairman 
Grassley for all his work to bring these impressive nominees to the 
floor. Together with the President, we will continue working hard to 
put judges on the Federal courts who will uphold the law as it is 
written, not as they wish it were.

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