[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 183 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S7046]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Christine P. O'Hearn

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, today I rise in support of the 
confirmation of Ms. Christine O'Hearn to the U.S. District Court for 
the District of New Jersey. I was proud to recommend Ms. O'Hearn for 
this nomination. She has the qualifications, intellect, and the 
temperament necessary to make an excellent and impartial Federal judge, 
and I am confident that she will serve the U.S. District of New Jersey 
well.
  A proud South Jersey native, Ms. O'Hearn was born in Camden, 
graduated from the University of Delaware, and earned her juris doctor 
from Temple University's Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia. She is 
an expert in employment and labor law who has worked on behalf of both 
employers and workers during her impressive career.
  She is currently a partner at the firm of Brown & Connery in 
Westmont, NJ, where she is highly regarded by her colleagues for her 
keen insight and confident command of the issues at hand in every case 
she takes on. Twice she was named one of the Top 40 attorneys under 40 
in New Jersey. She has also been featured in New Jersey Law Journal's 
``Women and Minorities in the Profession.'' Ms. O'Hearn also previously 
served as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University School of Law in 
Camden.
  In 2020, Ms. O'Hearn was appointed to the U.S. Magistrate Judge 
Selection Committee and has served on various distinguished boards, 
including the New Jersey State Committee of the American College of 
Trial Lawyers and the New Jersey Court's District IV Ethics Committee.
  And this year--this gives you an insight of the person that she is 
beyond her competence and capability and intellect--she has spent more 
than 85 hours volunteering as a pro bono attorney for newly arriving 
Afghan refugees in Fort Dix, NJ, informing them of their rights and 
helping them navigate our complicated immigration laws. She described 
this work as immensely fulfilling and humbling, and I hope it inspires 
others in the legal profession to lend a hand to the nationwide refugee 
resettlement effort.
  Ms. O'Hearn's professional credentials, combined with her compassion 
and commitment to the fair and impartial administration of justice, 
will make her an outstanding judge.
  Finally, I would like to remind my colleagues that the U.S. District 
of New Jersey is one of the busiest courts in all of America. As of 
last year, more than 46,000 cases were pending before it, many of them 
among the most complex and challenging cases in the Nation.
  Yet multiple vacancies on the court have left its seated judges with 
some of the highest caseloads in the country, prompting the Judicial 
Conference of the United States to declare them judicial emergencies.
  Now, we have made some encouraging progress on that front in recent 
months. However, the people of New Jersey deserve nothing less than a 
fully staffed district court, not to mention all of the parties with 
business pending before it.
  I am confident that Ms. O'Hearn's experience and intellectual rigor 
will be an asset to the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, and I urge 
my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in support of her 
swift confirmation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote 
that was scheduled for 2:30 occur immediately.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.