[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 186 (Thursday, December 1, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S6928]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Jerry W. Blackwell

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise in support of the nominee to be 
the next U.S. district court judge for the District of Minnesota--that 
would be Jerry Blackwell.
  I would like to thank Senator Durbin, chair of the Judiciary 
Committee, and all the members of the Judiciary Committee, including 
yourself, Mr. President, for shepherding Mr. Blackwell's nomination 
through the committee, and I would like to thank Leader Schumer for 
making time for the Senate to consider his nomination, and my colleague 
Senator Smith for her work as well in support of the nomination.
  Jerry Blackwell is one of the most respected and accomplished 
litigators in the State of Minnesota. He has nearly 35 years of trial 
experience, has been named Minnesota Attorney of the Year five times, 
has argued over 1,000 motions in State and Federal court, and served as 
lead counsel in over 100 cases.
  This is why he received a bipartisan vote in the Judiciary Committee, 
including with the support of the ranking member, and why I hope my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle will support his confirmation.
  Jerry has always been driven by his commitment to serve others--a 
commitment that started early in his life. His dad was a truckdriver 
who started working after the 10th grade, and his mom worked in a 
textile mill. She struggled with health conditions and was on dialysis 
from the time Jerry was 5 years old. They raised Jerry in a textile 
mill town in North Carolina in a home without running water. And 
although they did not have much, they raised their kids to believe that 
no matter what their life circumstances were, it was their 
responsibility to give back to their community. As Jerry said at his 
nomination hearing, his mom taught him at a young age that ``in serving 
others we find our own well-being.'' Those words inspired Jerry's 
brother to serve as a police officer and led Jerry to use his skills as 
an attorney to improve the lives of others.

  He was the first in his family to attend college. He attended the 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a recipient of the 
prestigious Morehead Scholarship. He went on to earn his J.D. from the 
University of North Carolina School of Law and then had the wisdom to 
move to Minnesota to begin his legal career at a firm in Minneapolis.
  After working at several prominent Minneapolis law firms, Jerry went 
on to found Blackwell Burke, one of the largest minority-owned trial 
law firms in our State. The firm was, at one point, the second-largest 
Black-owned law firm in the United States of America. It is highly 
regarded by the Minnesota legal community and has been rated 
Minnesota's top litigation firm by Benchmark Litigation for 4 years in 
a row.
  Jerry is also known for his humility--so much so that I did not learn 
until after his nomination hearing, when his aunt told me, that Jerry 
has never lost a case in the nearly 35 years he has been practicing.
  I then went to Jerry and said ``Your aunt was probably kind of 
exaggerating?'' And he said ``No, it's true. I've never lost a case.''
  As an attorney in Minnesota, Jerry never lost touch with his 
commitment to serve others. Even while he maintained a busy private 
practice, he always found ways to give back. He was widely praised for 
his work obtaining the first posthumous pardon in State history for Max 
Mason, a young Black man who was wrongfully convicted of rape in 1920. 
And he captured the attention of our State and the country during his 
time as Special Assistant Attorney General in one of the most high-
profile criminal trials in the history of our country: the prosecution 
of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.
  Many of the pages in this room and many of the people watching today 
will remember Jerry's argument at the trial and the fine lawyering that 
he demonstrated. He didn't make it about himself. He didn't make it 
about some hotshot litigation move. He made it about George Floyd, and 
he made it about the community members and the police officers who came 
to testify against Derek Chauvin at that trial. It was an extraordinary 
job, along with his colleagues that also prosecuted the case and 
Attorney General Ellison who supervised it.
  Jerry has broad respect in Minnesota's legal community. He was 
initially recommended by a judicial selection committee that I convened 
with Senator Smith consisting of accomplished Minnesota judges, 
attorneys, and legal scholars, headed up by Alan Page, the former 
Minnesota Supreme Court justice, also known as an extraordinary 
Minnesota Viking.
  Jerry earned support from 25 experienced Federal prosecutors from 
across the political spectrum, who wrote to the Judiciary Committee in 
support of his nomination that he ``distinguished himself as a civil 
practitioner and has earned a national reputation as a skilled and 
persuasive advocate.''
  The Judiciary Committee also directly heard from a number of current 
and former police chiefs in Minnesota who wrote:

       We are confident that as a federal district court judge, 
     Mr. Blackwell will approach each case with an open mind and 
     will apply the law consistently and fairly.

  That is why he got the highest rating from the ABA. That is why he 
got bipartisan support in the Judiciary Committee.
  I am so proud to have Jerry as our nominee, and I ask my colleagues 
to join me in supporting his nomination.
  It is not often that you have a nominee with this breadth of 
experience, this breadth of support, and also the willingness to take 
on one of the hardest cases our Nation has ever known and win it.
  I yield the floor.