[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 83 (Wednesday, May 17, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S1686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Judicial Nominations

  Mr. President, now on nominations and judges, today will be a very 
busy day here on the Senate floor. This morning, we will vote to 
advance and then confirm the nomination of Jeremy Daniel to serve as a 
district judge for the Northern District of Illinois. We will also vote 
to advance the nomination of Darrel Papillion to serve as a district 
judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Mr. Daniel and Mr. 
Papillion are highly regarded and skilled litigators with impressive 
credentials, and both received a bipartisan vote out of the Judiciary 
Committee. So I expect both nominees to move through this Chamber with 
bipartisan support, and I thank my Republican colleagues for working 
with us.
  Finally, we will vote to proceed with Nancy Abudu to serve as circuit 
judge for the Eleventh Circuit. If confirmed, Ms. Abudu would be the 
first Black woman ever to serve on the Eleventh Circuit, another 
critical step to breaking down the barriers in the Halls of Justice.
  The Eleventh Circuit covers Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, home to 
nearly 8 million Black Americans, and she will be only the third Black 
jurist ever and the first Black woman jurist ever to preside on that 
court. The daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, who worked her way up to 
becoming one of the nation's leading civil rights attorneys, Ms. Abudu 
is an embodiment of the American dream, and she has dedicated her 
career to ensuring that dream is alive and well for everyone in this 
country.
  Throughout her career, Ms. Abudu has ensured our laws and our 
institutions work for all of us equally. She has dedicated herself 
particularly to the cause of democracy, of protecting the right to 
vote, and has fought back against attempts to shut Americans out of the 
Democratic process.
  I am certain Ms. Abudu will continue to apply the law equally and 
impartially from the Federal bench, and I look forward to advancing her 
nomination today. I am proud of the historic progress this Senate 
majority has made in advancing and confirming highly qualified, diverse 
judicial appointments to lifetime appointments to the bench, and you 
can be sure we are going to keep going.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.