[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 214 (Monday, December 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Judicial Nominations

  Madam President, on another matter, this week the Senate has a lot to 
get done as we approach the end of the year.
  Over the course of the week, we expect to hold a number of votes to 
confirm more of President Biden's nominees to serve lifetime 
appointments to the Federal bench. On that front, we will later vote 
this afternoon on the confirmation of Judge Lucy Koh to serve as a 
circuit judge for the Ninth District Court of Appeals. Her nomination 
was favorably reported out of the committee with bipartisan support.
  If confirmed, Judge Koh would be the first-ever Korean-American woman 
to sit on any circuit court in the country. The daughter of immigrants, 
her background is an inspiring testament to the American dream. Lucy's 
mom escaped as a child on foot from the oppression of North Korea, 
eventually coming to the States. Lucy spent the majority of her own 
upbringing in rural Mississippi, graduating from both Harvard and 
Harvard Law School.
  For the last 11 years, Lucy Koh has served admirably as a district 
judge for the District of Northern California. She has authored over 
3,000 opinions and presided in 270 cases--everything from the rights of 
criminal defendants in seeking legal representation to the protection 
of online consumer data in the hands of companies, to ensuring that the 
Trump administration did not prematurely end its completion of the 2020 
census. She did all those things. She wrote on all those things and 
offered opinions.
  All the while, she has conducted herself with impartiality, 
excellence, and above all, with fidelity to the Constitution and the 
rule of law. I have no doubt she will continue building on her 
excellent judicial record as an appellate judge on the Ninth Circuit, 
and I look forward to voting in favor of her confirmation later today.
  Later this week, we will hold votes on other nominees as well, 
including Samantha Elliott to serve as a judge for the District of New 
Hampshire and Jennifer Sung to serve as a circuit judge for the Ninth 
Circuit.
  Once we confirm all three judges--Koh, Elliott, and Sung--the Senate 
will have confirmed a total of 31 judges to the Federal bench, 11 to 
the circuit courts, and 20 to the district courts. I am proud to say 
over half of them are women. Over half of them are people of color.
  All of them are outstanding, highly qualified, and they bring sorely 
needed diversity to the bench--not just personal diversity but 
professional diversity as well. In decades past, it would have been 
hard imagining many of these nominees getting a serious look in this 
Chamber, but one by one, Senate Democrats are working with President 
Biden to expand the possibilities of who can and who should serve as a 
judge in this country, and we will keep working.