[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 45 (Thursday, March 9, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S729-S730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Tribute to James L. Buckley

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I am honored, so honored, to say a few 
words this morning about Judge James Buckley--a statesman; a patriot; a 
member of the World War II Greatest Generation; a senior Reagan State 
Department official; a DC Court of Appeals judge; a former Member of 
this body, the U.S. Senate; a friend; and a shining example of a good, 
meaningful life lived in full.
  It is not very often that you get to say happy birthday to your 
hundred-year-old mentor on the Senate floor, but today, I get to do 
that to one of my mentors.
  Judge Buckley has been a mentor and role model to me and so many 
other people who worked for him or worked with him over the past 
century.
  So, Judge, I hope you are watching. I hope some of your family 
members are watching. I want to wish you a happy hundredth birthday 
from the U.S. Senate. We have this wonderful card here signed by dozens 
of U.S. Senators--Republicans, Democrats, Independents--here on the 
Senate floor on your hundredth birthday, right now. We are going to 
deliver this to you soon.
  For those watching, who is this remarkable American statesman? There 
is a wonderful Wall Street Journal op-ed in this morning's Journal 
entitled ``Jim Buckley's Century of Service.'' I encourage all of my 
Senate colleagues to read it.
  He was from a very large and famous Connecticut family with many 
prominent brothers and sisters--10 of them. It is quite large. His 
younger brother was the conservative intellectual William F. Buckley.
  James Buckley--Judge Buckley, as I like to call him--served his 
country in so many ways: as I noted, first, heroically, as a World War 
II Naval officer. He served in many battles, including the Battle of 
Okinawa, which was the bloodiest battle in U.S. Navy history.
  He served as a U.S. Senator from New York and Under Secretary of 
State in the Reagan administration, a judge on the Federal court of 
appeals for the DC Circuit right down the road, commonly referred to as 
``the second-most important court in the land.''
  Think about that. That is service at the highest levels of three 
different branches of government--the only living American to do that 
and the oldest Member of the U.S. Senate, former Member.
  In every position, Judge Buckley, throughout his life, brought 
integrity, a fierce intellect, and a compelling commitment to American 
exceptionalism.
  I have known Judge Buckley for 30 years. He is a man of faith, class, 
dignity, and humility. He has never stopped serving his country. Even 
into his late nineties, he was still at work writing a very well-
received book on public policy just a few years ago called ``Saving 
Congress from Itself.''
  A few years back, I suggested that he present his book to us at one 
of our Republican lunches. In so doing, I explained to the judge the 
way in which we have lunches here in the Senate. Three times a week, we 
get together. There is the Tuesday policy lunch; there is the 
Wednesday--what we call--Steering Committee lunch; and then there is 
the Thursday lunch, more informal, hosted by members of our conference 
who can brag a little bit about their State and feed us great food from 
their State. So I suggested to the judge, come by the Wednesday 
Steering Committee lunch and share with us your new book. And I noted, 
you know, you may know, Judge, that the Steering Committee was 
initially set up a long time ago by a group of more conservative 
Senators but is now pretty much attended by all Republican Senators for 
lunch. Was he familiar with the Steering Committee, I asked the judge.
  In typical, James Buckley humble fashion, he said quietly: Why, Dan, 
yes, I believe I was one of the cofounders of the Steering Committee.
  Of course, you were, Judge. Of course, you were.
  Anyway, we all had a great, very memorable lunch here in the Senate 
with Jim Buckley, where just in an hour, so many of my colleagues 
learned so much from him, which is what he has been doing his whole 
life.
  I got to know Judge Buckley when I caught a lucky break 30 years ago 
and was hired by him as his fourth law clerk--kind of a law clerk 
intern--when he was a DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge right down the 
road and I was in my final year at Georgetown Law School. This was an 
incredible experience for me.
  As most know, and I already mentioned, the DC Circuit is considered 
the second most important court in the country and, of course, is known 
as a feeder court into the U.S. Supreme Court for law clerks, but 
particularly for judges. Just look at all the former DC Circuit judges 
who went on to be Supreme Court Justices: Burger, Scalia, Ginsburg, 
Thomas, Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Jackson.

  As a Georgetown law student, this internship was a very exciting 
opportunity for me, and I saw up close in Judge Buckley an example of 
principled jurisprudence that was anchored in the text of Federal 
statutes and the Constitution that recognized and emphasized the limits 
on Federal judiciary and agency powers and that understood the 
importance of federalism and the separation of powers in our 
constitutional system of ordered liberty.
  These were lifelong lessons for me, and I continue to use them daily 
right here in the U.S. Senate.
  I enjoyed this job so much and was learning so much that I pretty 
much quit going to many of my law school classes.
  For the young people watching, especially law students, don't do 
that. That was a dumb idea. My very low grade in my evidence class was 
evidence of this.
  Judge Buckley, back then, tolerated me in his chambers 30 years ago, 
but he really developed a special bond with my then-girlfriend, Julie, 
who is now my wife of over 28 years.
  Julie and the judge had a small-world connection concerning the great 
State of Alaska that was quite remarkable.
  In 1971, there was a very important bill being debated right here in 
the U.S. Senate called the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, what we 
call ANCSA. That bill became the world's largest land settlement for 
indigenous people ever, anywhere in the world. Right here in America, 
44 million acres of Federal land went to the Native people of Alaska. 
And Jim Buckley, then a first-term U.S. Senator in his first year, 
became a big supporter of Native rights in Alaska. It was curious, 
interesting. What was going on there?
  He was a conservative Republican and believed in property rights, and 
ownership, and free enterprise, and fee simple lands for the Native 
people, which was what ANCSA was all about--much different than the 
lower 48, where the system of reservations and land held in trust by 
the Federal Government does not work well.
  There was something else going on there, the Alaska Native leaders 
went to Washington in force to lobby different Senators. Senator 
Buckley was lobbied by a beautiful 36-year-old brilliant Alaska Native 
leader named Mary Jane Fate, who just so happened to be my wife's--then 
my girlfriend's--mom. So the judge and my girlfriend, Julie, figured 
that out, put two and two together, that her mom was one of the big 
reasons in terms of lobbying that he got interested in the ANCSA 
legislation and was a strong supporter of that.
  Of course, that cemented their relationship and our relationship, and 
Julie and I and the judge have been great friends ever since. I do want 
to thank him, again, on behalf of the people of Alaska for being such a 
strong supporter of that legislation, which literally changed the 
history trajectory of our State for the better 51 years ago.
  A few years ago, I was asked by the outstanding organization, The 
Fund for American Studies, to give an address about honorable 
leadership--honorable leadership--and I made my entire speech about the 
life and example of James Buckley.
  Honorable leadership and upholding the highest values of ethical 
service, which is what the life of Judge Buckley epitomizes, is not 
always easy.
  For example, as a U.S. Senator, Judge Buckley was one of the first 
Members of the Senate Republican caucus to call on President Nixon to 
resign

[[Page S730]]

in the wake of the Watergate scandal. That certainly was not easy.
  He was also an early Republican leader on issues of environmental 
stewardship and responsible, commonsense conservationism in the spirit 
of Republican President Teddy Roosevelt that has the support from local 
communities.
  He cosponsored legislation that created the Gateway National 
Recreation Area, which stretches along the northeast Atlantic coast 
from New York to New Jersey and is home to one of the most significant 
bird sanctuaries in the northeast part of the United States.
  As an avid birder himself, I am sure that this is one of the many 
proud aspects of the judge's important legacy to New York and to the 
rest of the country.
  I think without a doubt, the most important legacy Jim Buckley has 
left all of us in the past 100 years has been his commitment to freedom 
and American liberty in both words and deeds.
  He fought for American freedom in the Pacific in World War II. Like 
so many from his ``greatest generation,'' he literally saved the world 
from tyranny.
  He spoke eloquently of American freedom throughout his life. In 
another one of his books, titled ``If Men Were Angels,'' he wrote the 
following:

       I believe that in the last analysis the most important 
     thing in social and political life is freedom, and I believe 
     that it is because of the safeguards written into the 
     Constitution, and the character of the American people, that 
     we have enjoyed it in so great a measure.

  More than any other country.
  Mr. President, this great American patriot has left his mark on the 
American soul and American history and American heritage at the highest 
levels of our Federal Government, in all three branches of service.
  Thank you for your exceptional service to our great Nation, Judge 
Buckley. All of the U.S. Senate and all of America wish you a happy and 
healthy 100th birthday.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lujan). The majority whip.