[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S5515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Arianna J. Freeman

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the Senate will soon vote to confirm 
another outstanding nominee to the Federal bench: Arianna Freeman, 
nominated to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
  Ms. Freeman is an accomplished appellate attorney and a ground-
breaking pick for the Third Circuit. Her perspective, experience, and 
legal acumen will greatly benefit the court. And once confirmed, she 
will be the first Black woman to serve on the Third Circuit.
  After earning her B.A. with honors from Swarthmore College and her 
J.D. from Yale Law School, Ms. Freeman clerked for three judges on the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, based in Philadelphia.
  In 2009, following her clerkships, Ms. Freeman joined the Federal 
Community Defender's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 
an office she has served with distinction. As a Federal public 
defender, Ms. Freeman has dedicated her career to representing indigent 
criminal defendants seeking to vindicate their constitutional rights--
to due process, effective assistance of counsel, and other 
constitutional guarantees.
  Unfortunately, some of my Republican colleagues have suggested that 
Ms. Freeman's public defense work disqualifies her from judicial 
service.
  In reality, Ms. Freeman has undertaken this work in support of the 
Constitution and the rule of law. Her zealous advocacy has helped to 
ensure that the protections of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments are made 
real for criminal defendants. Throughout her career, she has advanced 
the cause of equal justice under law.
  Ms. Freeman received a unanimous rating of ``well qualified'' from 
the American Bar Association.
  She has the strong support of Senator Casey, as well as many leaders 
in the Pennsylvania legal community. This includes four former Federal 
prosecutors who sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee writing, ``We 
are impressed by Arianna's diligence, intelligence, dedication, and 
integrity. It is because of her ethics and compassion, grounded in 
sensibility, that we are confident she will provide sound and measured 
opinions, while approaching each case without bias and with respect for 
the rule of law.''
  I will support Ms. Freeman's confirmation, and I urge my colleagues 
to do the same.