[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 48 (Thursday, March 17, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1248-S1250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this week, the Senate will consider 12 
outstanding judicial nominees. These nominees represent the continued 
efforts of President Biden and Senate Democrats to bring much-needed 
professional and demographic diversity to the Federal bench.
  This latest lineup of nominees include legal academics, public 
defenders, civil rights lawyers, sitting State and Federal judges, 
prosecutors, and private practitioners. Each of these nominees has the 
character, temperament, and qualifications to serve with distinction.
  The first nominee is Judge Jacqueline Corley, nominated to the U.S. 
District Court for the Northern District of California.
  For more than a decade, Judge Corley has served as a Federal 
magistrate judge in the Northern District of California. She has 
handled cases implicating a variety of complex statutory and 
constitutional questions, from immigration to employment to national 
security matters. And in her time on the bench, she has amassed a 
record that reflects her evenhanded, impartial approach to the law. 
Earlier in her career, Judge Corley spent nearly two decades working in 
private legal practice and as a career law clerk to Judge Charles 
Breyer, who also serves on the Northern District of California.
  Judge Corley received a unanimous rating of ``Well Qualified'' from 
the American Bar Association, has the strong support of Senators 
Feinstein and Padilla, and received overwhelming bipartisan support in 
the Judiciary Committee.
  Next, we have Fred Slaughter, who has been nominated to serve on the 
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
  Judge Slaughter currently serves as a judge on the California 
Superior Court for Orange County. In 2014, Governor Jerry Brown 
appointed him to this position, and since then, Judge Slaughter has 
presided over a wide variety of cases, including civil cases, felony 
criminal cases, and juvenile justice proceedings. After graduating from 
the UCLA School of Law, he started his career as a deputy city attorney 
with the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, before moving to the U.S. 
Attorney's Office for the Central District of California as an 
Assistant U.S. Attorney. He prosecuted a wide range of cases and 
developed a deep understanding of the district to which he has been 
nominated.
  Judge Slaughter has the strong support of both his home-State 
Senators, Mrs. Feinstein and Mr. Padilla, and he was rated unanimously 
``Well Qualified'' by the American Bar Association. His deep commitment 
to public service, coupled with his broad experience, makes him an 
excellent nominee to the Federal bench.
  The Senate will also consider the nomination of Ruth Montenegro to 
the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
  Since 2018, Judge Montenegro has served as a U.S. magistrate judge in 
the Southern District of California. Prior to that, she served as a 
State court judge. With her combined experience on federal and State 
courts, Judge Montenegro has been on the bench for nearly 8 years. She 
has presided over thousands of cases, including more than 30 jury 
trials and over 100 bench trials.
  Judge Montenegro was unanimously rated ``Qualified'' by the American 
Bar

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Association, and both Senators Feinstein and Padilla strongly support 
her nomination. A graduate of UCLA School of Law, Judge Montenegro 
worked as an attorney for more than 19 years before assuming the bench.
  Judge Montenegro is also the child of immigrants and a first-
generation college graduate. Throughout her career, she has made it a 
priority to give back to the community. In 2018, she served as chair of 
the California Bar Foundation's scholarship committee, and, for many 
years, she served as president and chair of the scholarships committee 
for the El Centro Education Foundation.
  Judge Montenegro was voted out of the Judiciary Committee with 
bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to support her nomination.
  Next is Victoria Calvert, nominated to be a judge on the U.S. 
District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Ms. Calvert is a 
highly experienced litigator with a proven commitment to ensuring equal 
justice for all.
  Ms. Calvert attended Duke University and received her law degree from 
the New York University School of Law. She then spent 6 years working 
in private practice before dedicating her career to public service. 
Currently, she serves as a staff attorney with the Federal defender 
program in the Northern District of Georgia, a position she has held 
since 2012. In this role, she has represented hundreds of indigent 
clients. Ms. Calvert has the strong support of her home-State Senators, 
Mr. Ossoff and Mr. Warnock. And she received a unanimous ``Well 
Qualified'' rating from the ABA.
  I have said many times that public defenders are vastly 
underrepresented on our Nation's courts, and I believe that Ms. Calvert 
will bring a valuable perspective to the bench, including an 
appreciation for the real world impact of judicial decisionmaking.
  We also will be considering the nomination of Julie Rubin, who has 
been selected to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of 
Maryland.
  For the past 8 years, she has served as an associate judge on the 
Circuit Court for Baltimore City. In this role, Judge Rubin has 
presided over nearly 950 civil and criminal cases that have gone to 
verdict or judgment, including 122 jury trials.
  Prior to assuming the bench, Judge Rubin spent 15 years litigating in 
private practice and tried 17 cases to verdict or judgment. She also 
rose to become the vice president of her firm. Judge Rubin received her 
undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College and her law degree from 
the University of Maryland School of Law. And she received a unanimous 
``Well Qualified'' rating from the American Bar Association.
  Judge Rubin has the strong support of her home State Senators, Mr. 
Cardin and Mr. Van Hollen. She also received bipartisan support in the 
Judiciary Committee. As a native Marylander with a wealth of trial 
experience on and off the bench, Judge Rubin will make an excellent 
addition to the District Court.
  Next we have Hector Gonzalez, nominated to serve on the U.S. District 
Court for the Eastern District of New York.
  Mr. Gonzalez is an accomplished litigator. Over the course of his 
career, he has tried more than 20 civil and criminal cases, the 
majority of them as chief counsel. Mr. Gonzalez served as a prosecutor 
for almost 10 years, serving in both the Manhattan District Attorney's 
Office as well as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District 
of New York. In addition to the criminal law expertise he developed as 
a prosecutor, Mr. Gonzalez has also gained considerable civil 
litigation experience, managing complex litigation matters involving 
bankruptcy, antitrust, and professional liability.
  In recognition of his long career as an accomplished litigator, Mr. 
Gonzalez was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Trial 
Lawyers. The ABA found him unanimously ``Well Qualified.'' In addition, 
he has the strong support of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand.
  Next we have John Chun, who has been nominated to serve on the U.S. 
District Court for the Western District of Washington.
  Judge Chun has served on Washington State courts for the past 7 
years, first as a judge on the King County Superior Court and currently 
as a judge on the Washington Court of Appeals. Throughout his time on 
the bench, he has presided over 90 civil and criminal cases that have 
gone to verdict or judgment. These cases have been almost evenly split 
between jury and bench trials.
  Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Chun spent 10 years as a 
commercial and employment litigation attorney. Practicing in both 
Federal and State court, he tried five cases to verdict or judgment and 
became partner at his firm in just 6 years. Judge Chun received his 
undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his law degree from 
Cornell Law School. He then began his legal career by clerking for the 
Honorable Eugene A. Wright on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth 
Circuit.
  Judge Chun has the strong support of Senators Murray and Cantwell. He 
received a bipartisan vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. He also 
received a unanimous ``Well Qualified'' rating from the American Bar 
Association. Judge Chun's demonstrable commitment to justice and the 
rule of law will serve him well as a district court judge.
  Next is Sarah Geraghty, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the 
Northern District of Georgia.
  Since 2003, Ms. Geraghty has been an attorney at the Southern Center 
for Human Rights, where she has advocated for the fair and equal 
treatment of people in the criminal legal system, regardless of their 
ability to afford counsel. Ms. Geraghty has approximately 20 years of 
litigation experience, during which time she has handled every stage of 
the legal process, from pretrial investigations to briefing and arguing 
appeals.
  Ms. Geraghty has been widely recognized for her work. In 2020, she 
was named Attorney of the Year by Georgia's primary legal publication, 
the Fulton County ``Daily Report''. In 2017, Emory University School of 
Law's public interest committee gave Ms. Geraghty its Unsung Devotion 
to Those Most in Need Award. Ms. Geraghty was rated ``Qualified'' by 
the American Bar Association, and both Senator Ossoff and Senator 
Warnock strongly support her nomination.
  In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Geraghty is a lecturer at 
Emory Law School and a part-time instructor at Georgia State University 
College of Law. Ms. Geraghty has received numerous letters of support, 
including from law enforcement officials and attorneys who have opposed 
her in litigation. These letters demonstrate that Ms. Geraghty's 
approach to resolving legal disputes has always been, as one letter put 
it,``collaborative rather than confrontational.'' Another letter stated 
that she has always ``approached conflicts between the parties with 
flexibility and an open mind.'' These qualities will serve her well on 
the bench. Ms. Geraghty received bipartisan support in the Judiciary 
Committee. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of her nomination.
  We will also consider Georgette Castner, who has been nominated to 
serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
  She is an experienced litigator with a deep knowledge of the District 
of New Jersey. A graduate of the College of New Jersey and Rutgers Law 
School, Ms. Castner has spent almost 15 years in private practice, 
representing a range of individual and corporate clients. Over the 
course of her career, she has litigated matters spanning various areas 
of civil and criminal law.
  Ms. Castner received a ``Qualified'' rating from the ABA and has the 
strong support of her home-State Senators, Mr. Booker and Mr. Menendez.
  Next is Judge Cristina Silva, nominated to the U.S. District Court 
for the District of Nevada.
  Judge Silva currently serves on Nevada's Eighth Judicial District 
Court, where she handles a mix of civil and criminal proceedings. In 
her time on the bench, Judge Silva has presided over 15 trials, the 
vast majority of which were jury trials. She has also remained active 
in the local legal community, including through service on the board of 
directors of the Nevada Latino Bar Association.
  Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Silva served as both a 
local and Federal prosecutor. She helped lead the domestic violence 
unit of the Miami-

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Dade State's Attorney's Office and then served for nearly a decade as 
an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Nevada, ultimately 
becoming the chief of that office's criminal division. Judge Silva 
received a unanimous rating of ``Well Qualified'' from the ABA and has 
the strong support of Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen.
  We also will be considering the nomination of Anne Traum, who has 
likewise been chosen to serve on the U.S. District Court for the 
District of Nevada.
  Professor Traum is currently a professor of Law at the University of 
Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law, a position she has 
held since 2014, and associate dean for experiential legal education. 
Her commitment to the university is admirable: She founded, and now 
leads, the appellate clinic, which allows students to brief and argue 
cases before the Ninth Circuit or the Nevada Supreme Court.
  Additionally, she took 1-year leave of absence from the university 
from 2015 to 2016 to serve as special counsel with the U.S. Department 
of Justice's Office for Access to Justice. The breadth of her career 
does not stop there, though. She was an assistant federal public 
defender in the Federal public defender's office in Las Vegas from 2002 
to 2008 and, prior to that, served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the 
Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada 
from 2000 to 2002.
  Professor Traum has the strong support of her home-State Senators, 
Ms. Cortez Masto and Ms. Rosen, and was rated ``Well Qualified'' by the 
American Bar Association.
  Finally, we will be considering Judge Alison Nathan, who has been 
nominated to serve on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
  Judge Nathan is an experienced litigator and an accomplished jurist. 
She has served on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of 
New York since 2012. While on the bench, she has authored over 1,500 
opinions and has presided over 45 trials that have gone to verdict or 
judgment. With that long record, her reversal rate is an impressive 1 
percent. I have no doubt that she will be a valuable addition to the 
Second Circuit. After attending Cornell University and Cornell Law 
School, Judge Nathan clerked for Judge Betty B. Fletcher on the Ninth 
Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. 
From there, she began her legal practice, where she specialized in 
civil litigation and developed a large pro bono practice focused on 
LGBTQ rights and appeals for inmates on death row. She also held 
positions in government and academia.
  Judge Nathan has the strong support of Senator Schumer and Senator 
Gillibrand, and she was unanimously rated ``Well Qualified'' by the 
American Bar Association. Her record on the bench is deeply impressive. 
She has proven, without a doubt, that she understands the difference 
between a policy advocate and a judge, and I am certain that she will 
continue to administer justice in a thoughtful, evenhanded manner.
  I support all of these outstanding nominees and encourage my 
colleagues to join me in voting for their confirmation.

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