[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 22, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3017-S3018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, since President Trump took office in 
2017, the Senate has confirmed 41 well-qualified individuals to serve 
on our Nation's circuit courts. No. 41 was Daniel Collins of 
California, whom we confirmed yesterday to the Ninth Circuit Court of 
Appeals. As I have noted already, Mr. Collins came before the Senate 
with every conceivable indicator of a brilliant legal mind and an 
impeccable professional record. I was proud that the full Senate 
followed up

[[Page S3018]]

the Judiciary Committee's favorable report with a majority vote here on 
the floor.
  But our work this week is just beginning. Yesterday, the Senate also 
advanced four more nominees--these to serve on district courts across 
the country. Today, we will vote to confirm all four.
  The first, Howard Nielson, has been nominated for the District of 
Utah. As I mentioned yesterday, Mr. Nielson has clerked for both the 
Fourth Circuit and the Supreme Court and has assembled an impressive 
record at the Department of Justice and in the private sector.
  Next will come the nomination of Stephen Clark for the Eastern 
District of Missouri. Mr. Clark is an accomplished litigator with 
nearly three decades of experience in practice.
  The third nominee is Carl Nichols, the President's choice to serve as 
district judge for the District of Columbia. You will start to detect a 
pattern because he, too, is a thoroughly impressive nominee--clerkships 
for the DC Circuit and for the Supreme Court for Justice Thomas, 
service at the Department of Justice, and recognized excellence in 
private practice.
  Finally, we will vote on Kenneth Bell, nominated to serve in the 
Western District of North Carolina. Mr. Bell has under his belt nearly 
two decades of service in the Office of the U.S. Attorney--
distinguished by national honors for his accomplishments as a 
prosecutor--as well as extensive experience in the private sector.
  So if I am sounding like a broken record, it is because the White 
House continues to submit one extremely well-qualified and highly 
impressive nominee after another to sit on the Federal bench. These are 
men and women who are bright, talented, well-regarded, and committed to 
applying what the text of our laws and our Constitution actually say.
  Today, we can take four more steps in that positive direction. These 
nominees deserve big bipartisan votes, so I hope each of my colleagues 
will join me in voting to confirm each of them.

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