[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 90 (Tuesday, May 24, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Charlotte N. Sweeney

  Mr. President, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about Charlotte 
Sweeney, who is President Biden's nominee for the U.S. District Court 
for the District of Colorado.
  For Charlotte, equality under the law isn't an abstraction; it is her 
life's work.
  A native of Littleton, CO, Charlotte grew up hiking and skiing with 
her family on the Rocky Mountain trails within an hour of their home. 
Today, she hits the same trails with the two most important people in 
her life: her teenagers Jordan and Addison.
  As much as Charlotte loves our State, she also remembers a time when 
it wasn't easy for LGBTQ Coloradans like herself to be open about who 
they were, especially--especially--at work. It was a time when, instead 
of leading the Nation on equality, as we are today, Colorado actually 
passed an amendment that blocked laws to protect LGBTQ people from 
discrimination.
  You know, I just want to pause by saying that, you know, sometimes 
people say ``Well, you can't make a difference in this country'' and 
``The democracy is broken, and you can't make progress.'' But when you 
see the way Colorado has made extraordinary progress, it reminds me 
that we should never give up, that change is always possible.
  When the Colorado Supreme Court declared that amendment 
unconstitutional that we had passed, Charlotte saw the power of law to 
tip the scales for or against--for or against--equality, and she 
decided to spend the rest of her career on the side of equality.
  After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Denver School 
of Law, she joined a small firm that focused on representing 
plaintiffs. She rose to become a partner in just 2 years, and just 2 
years after that, she became a named partner of the firm.
  Most people would have been content with that achievement, but 
Charlotte, being Charlotte, kept on going. In 2008, she started her own 
firm to represent people in employment law cases. Over the last 20 
years, Charlotte has become one of Colorado's top employment attorneys, 
representing Federal, State, and private sector workers in virtually 
every aspect of employment law.

  In one case, she represented her former law professors at the 
University of Denver who had been paid less than their male colleagues 
for decades. She obtained $2.6 million in relief for her clients on top 
of their overdue pay raises.
  Sadly, that outcome isn't the norm in our country, where our justice 
system too often sides against workers even when the facts of the case 
are actually on their side. That is corrosive to the American people's 
confidence in the rule of law, and it is why we need more judges with 
Charlotte's perspective.
  Charlotte's obvious credentials, her integrity, and her much needed 
experience more than qualify her for this role, and it is why I 
strongly support her nomination.
  If confirmed, Charlotte would also become the first openly gay woman 
to serve as a Federal judge west of the Mississippi--a powerful 
affirmation of America's commitment to opportunity and equality for all 
and something that is just long overdue.
  So I want to thank the Judiciary Committee for sending Charlotte, 
this exceptional nominee, to the floor, and I urge Members of both 
parties to give her a strong bipartisan vote of confirmation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.