[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 31, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NOMINATION OF MEREDITH A. VACCA

  Mr. SCHUMER. On the Vacca nomination, today, the Senate will confirm 
another exceptional judicial nominee from New York whom I recommended 
to President Biden, Meredith Vacca, to serve as district judge for the 
Western District of New York, the Buffalo and Rochester areas of our 
State.
  Judge Vacca's confirmation will be a historic moment for Western New 
York. A proud Korean American, Judge Vacca will be the first Asian 
American and first woman of color ever to serve in the Western District 
of New York.
  I am proud to say Judge Vacca is a Western New Yorker through and 
through, a Buffalo Law School graduate, longtime resident of the 
Rochester area, raised in the suburban town of Greece.
  Judge Vacca will bring great talent, experience, and respect for the 
law to the Western District of New York.
  The Western District, as I mentioned, stretches to Buffalo and 
Rochester and many other counties in Western New York. These are places 
that have benefited immensely from New York's great Asian-American 
community. As the senior Senator from New York and as majority leader, 
I have always worked to make New York's Federal bench reflect better 
the communities it serves. And I know the Presiding Officer and I have 
worked hand in hand on that noble goal.
  Judge Vacca's nomination will mark another major step toward that 
goal. Judge Vacca has every quality you could want in a jurist: 
compassionate, tough, legally astute, with a genuine love for her 
community. She spent over 15 years as an attorney, prosecutor, and 
judge fighting for vulnerable New Yorkers.
  She has developed a rare institutional knowledge of our State and our 
country's laws and will bring tremendous legal expertise and experience 
to the Western District bench. And notably, once confirmed, Judge Vacca 
will make the all-male Western District bench 50 percent female, making 
it one of the few country's 50 percent female benches. One day, I hope 
this is the norm across the country.
  So I am proud to support Judge Vacca's nomination, and I look forward 
to voting to confirm her later today.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam 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.

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