[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S2802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Nominations

  Madam President, on another matter, this morning, we voted to confirm 
Michael Truncale to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern 
District of Texas. Now we are considering Kenneth Lee, of California, 
who is slated to serve as a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of 
Appeals.
  Mr. Lee is a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School, 
and he held a clerkship in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Since 
then, his record has been marked by his success in private practice as 
a litigator, in his distinguished public service as an Associate White 
House Counsel during the Bush administration, and in his work as an 
adjunct professor at Pepperdine University School of Law.
  In addition to a ``unanimously well qualified'' rating from the ABA, 
which is the best it can give, and a favorable report from the 
Judiciary Committee, Mr. Lee has earned the especially high esteem of 
one of our own colleagues. The junior Senator from Arkansas attended 
law school with the nominee. He has personally testified that Mr. Lee 
is ``not only a brilliant lawyer, but more important, he's a man of 
high character.''
  So I hope, as this body continues our work toward swiftly processing 
the backlog of well-qualified nominees on the Executive Calendar, that 
each of my colleagues will join me in supporting the confirmation of 
Kenneth Lee.