[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 136 (Thursday, August 16, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S5672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, first, the Senate is currently 
considering two well-qualified nominees, both for the Fourth Circuit 
Court of Appeals. Yesterday afternoon, we voted to advance the 
nomination of Marvin Quattlebaum, a graduate of Rhodes College and the 
University of South Carolina. He presently serves as a district judge 
for the District of South Carolina. At noon the Senate will vote to 
confirm his nomination.
  When he was nominated to the Federal bench last year, Judge 
Quattlebaum received strong, bipartisan support from the Senate. The 
American Bar Association deemed him unanimously ``well-qualified,'' 
their highest possible rating.
  Once we complete consideration of Judge Quattlebaum, we will turn to 
Jay Richardson. Mr. Richardson is a graduate of Vanderbilt University 
and the University of Chicago Law School. He has held clerkships with 
Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner and with the late Supreme Court 
Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
  Since 2009, he has served as assistant U.S. Attorney for the District 
of South Carolina. Current and former peers in the U.S. Attorney's 
Office say he has a ``well-earned reputation for excellent preparation, 
good judgment, fairness, and hard work.''
  In that role, Mr. Richardson led the successful prosecution of the 
gunman who murdered nine innocent people at Emanuel AME Church in 
Charleston, SC, back in 2015. Our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee 
have received a letter from Jennifer Pinckney, the wife of the late 
Clementa Pinckney, one of the victims of that senseless violence. Ms. 
Pinckney wrote to enthusiastically support Mr. Richardson's 
confirmation. She said that he ``will make a fine jurist.''
  I urge my colleagues to join me in voting to confirm both of these 
impressive nominees.

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