[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4710-S4711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today I want to speak about two really 
highly qualified judicial nominees the Senate Judiciary Committee came 
up with through the White House
  The first is Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, who has been nominated to an 
Illinois seat on the Seventh Circuit. With her qualifications, 
temperament, and range of experience, she is outstanding.
  She is the daughter of two judges. Her father, Raymond Jackson, is a 
Federal district court judge, and her mother, Gwendolyn Jones Jackson, 
is a retired State court judge.
  She went to Princeton and then Yale Law School--not bad. She clerked 
for Judge David Coar on the U.S. District Court for the Northern 
District and for Roger Gregory on the Fourth Circuit.
  After her clerkships, she worked in private practice, and then she 
made an interesting career decision, and not many people make it. She 
decided to stop practicing in the private practice of law and become a 
staff attorney at the Federal Defender Program for the Northern 
District of Illinois, representing people who couldn't afford counsel.
  Ms. Jackson-Akiwumi spent 10 years as a Federal public defender. She 
defended hundreds of indigent clients at every stage of the legal 
process. She is a real lawyer. She knows that courtroom inside and out, 
and she knows the legal process as well.
  Ms. Jackson-Akiwumi's experience and perspective on the criminal 
justice system will be an asset in the Seventh Circuit. If she is 
approved, she will be the second woman of color to be in that circuit. 
It is about time.
  Her skills and legal expertise will be invaluable. She received a 
``well qualified'' rating by the ABA.
  She has a great temperament. One of our Senators on the Judiciary 
Committee tried to trap her with a question, seeing just whether she 
knew enough about the law. When it was all over, I think he was 
satisfied that she did.
  She spoke to the fact that her mother taught her how important it is 
for judges to listen and for litigants to be heard. This is a 
fundamental principle

[[Page S4711]]

in our system of justice. She is going to devote her life to defending 
the rule of law in the future, as she has in the past. I really think 
she is going to be extraordinary.
  The second nominee the Senate will vote on this week has my strong 
support as well, Judge Deborah Boardman, nominated to the U.S. District 
Court for the District of Maryland.
  She serves as a U.S. magistrate judge in the Maryland District Court. 
Like Jackson-Akiwumi, she has received a ``well qualified'' rating from 
the ABA. She, too, will bring diversity to the courts.
  She spent 11 years as a Federal public defender herself. She is 
bringing a perspective which is often not found in these court cases 
with sitting judges. I have nothing against former prosecutors. I have 
named a lot of them to the bench. But we ought to have diversity in 
background, experience, and the like.
  She has experience in private practice. She is a dedicated public 
servant, and I hope my colleagues will support her.

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