[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 217 (Thursday, December 16, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Holly A. Thomas

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I would, if I could, also like to speak briefly in 
support of Holly Thomas, who has been nominated to serve as a judge on 
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Thomas is an 
experienced appellate litigator and currently serves as a judge of the 
Superior Court of Los Angeles County. And I hope my colleagues will 
support her.
  Mr. President, I rise today in support of the nomination of Holly 
Thomas to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth 
Circuit.
  Judge Thomas is an experienced appellate litigator and sitting State 
court judge in California. I believe she would make an outstanding 
addition to the NinthCircuit.
  Her credentials are impeccable. She is a graduate of Stanford 
University and Yale Law School.
  After law school, Judge Thomas spent more than a decade gaining 
experience and insight into the Federal appeals courts as a litigator 
whose primary focus was on appellate cases. She has served as a public 
interest lawyer with the NAACP, in the Federal Government as an 
appellate attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice 
Department, and in State government in both California and New York.
  Though she began her career as an appellate litigator, Judge Thomas 
has been fascinated by judicial service since her childhood. When she 
was a young child, her mother--who was a bookkeeper--would take her to 
the San Diego courthouse to watch the legal proceedings in court.
  So it is fitting that in 2018, she was appointed to serve as a judge 
on the California Superior Court for Los Angeles County. Judge Thomas 
works in the Family Law Division, where she hears between 10 and 30 
cases on average each day, including a mix of hearings and trials. She 
has also served on a temporary basis as a State appeals judge on the 
California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District.
  Judge Thomas has a breadth of experience and knowledge that would 
make her well-suited to sit on the Ninth Circuit. If confirmed, Judge 
Thomas would be the first Black woman to serve on the Ninth Circuit 
from California and only the second Black woman to ever serve on the 
Ninth Circuit.
  I encourage all my colleagues to vote for her confirmation.
  I thank the Presiding Officer.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska is recognized.