[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 103 (Monday, June 14, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S4507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  NOMINATION OF KETANJI BROWN JACKSON

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, on a separate issue, the Senate voted on 
a bipartisan basis to invoke cloture on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's 
nomination to the DC Circuit. Today, the Senate will confirm her to 
that post.
  Judge Jackson is the first of many circuit court nominees whom we 
will confirm during this Congress. Given her credentials and record on 
the bench, she is a nominee who deserves the support of Senators on 
both sides of the aisle. I would like to take just a minute to 
highlight why she is such an outstanding choice for the DC Circuit.
  The importance of the DC Circuit cannot be overstated. This is what 
another Illinoisan, President Barack Obama, said about the court: ``The 
D.C. Circuit is known as the second highest court in the country, and 
there's good reason for that. The judges on the D.C. Circuit routinely 
have the final say on a broad range of issues involving everything from 
national security to environmental policy; from questions of campaign 
finance to workers' rights. In other words, the court's decisions 
impact almost every aspect of our lives.''
  Thankfully, in Judge Jackson, we have a nominee who will be ready 
from day one to serve justice as a member of the DC Circuit.
  Judge Jackson was born here in Washington, DC, and raised in Miami, 
FL. Her parents, public school teachers at the time of her birth, gave 
her a lifelong appreciation of learning and the law. They also 
instilled in her a dignity and grace that was on full display, as the 
Presiding Officer knows, when the judge appeared before the Judiciary 
Committee in April.
  A champion high school debater, Jackson later attended Harvard and 
Harvard Law School before embarking on what can only be described as a 
star-studded legal career.
  She clerked on the Federal District Court, the First Circuit Court of 
Appeals, and for Justice Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court--a strong 
resume in and of itself. She has also worked at several prominent law 
firms, handling both trial and appellate work.
  But her true calling has always been public service. In the early 
2000s, Judge Jackson worked as special counsel on the U.S. Sentencing 
Commission and later served as a Federal public defender in Washington, 
DC. This experience inspired President Obama to nominate her to serve 
as Commissioner and Vice Chair of the Sentencing Commission. In the 
Senate, her nomination received unanimous support.
  A few years later, Judge Jackson came before the Senate again when 
President Obama chose her to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court 
for the District of Columbia--once again, she was confirmed with 
unanimous support.
  Looking at the arc of Judge Jackson's career, I am struck by how much 
time she spent focusing on the issue of criminal sentencing--an issue 
deeply important to me and, I believe, many other colleagues.
  From the Sentencing Commission to the Office of Federal Public 
Defender, to the district court, Judge Jackson has grappled with legal, 
intellectual, and moral challenges that come with sentencing policy and 
decisions. Once confirmed, she will bring that vital experience to the 
DC Circuit.
  I also want to speak more broadly about her record on the bench. She 
represents the best of the judiciary. Humble, hard-working, she has 
written nearly 600 opinions, and each of them is guided by the same 
principles: fairness, impartiality, evenhandedness, and an unyielding 
fidelity to the law. It is no surprise, then, that she received the 
grade of unanimously ``well qualified'' from the American Bar 
Association, and it is no surprise that she has the support of legal 
experts and advocates from different ideological and professional 
stripes, including Judge Thomas Griffith, a George W. Bush appointee to 
the DC Circuit; the Alliance for Justice; the National Council of 
Jewish Women; the AFL-CIO; the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; 
and dozens--literally dozens--of former prosecutors and other Justice 
Department officials appointed by Presidents of both political parties.
  Let me close with a passage from a letter Judge Griffith wrote in 
support of Judge Jackson. I read this letter during her hearing, and it 
really stuck with me. Judge Griffith wrote: ``Although she and I have 
sometimes differed on the best outcome of a case, I have always 
respected her careful approach and agreeable manner, two indispensable 
traits for success in a collegial body.''
  Madam President, we will all benefit from that careful approach and 
agreeable manner on the DC Circuit.
  I will vote for Judge Jackson's nomination to the DC Circuit and urge 
my colleagues to do the same.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Duckworth). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Lee pertaining to the introduction of S. 2039 are 
printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and 
Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. LEE. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.

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