[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 144 (Tuesday, September 17, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Mary Kay Costello

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today the Senate will vote to confirm Mary 
Kay Costello to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania.
  From 1986 to 1994, Ms. Costello served as a staff sergeant in the 
U.S. Air Force. She then earned her B.A. from Temple University and her 
J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law.
  After completing law school, she began her legal career in private 
practice as a litigation associate with Saul Ewing LLP, then moved to 
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in 2004. While in private practice, she 
handled a range of commercial litigation matters.
  Since 2008, Ms. Costello has served as an assistant U.S. attorney in 
the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. She is currently assigned to the public 
corruption and civil rights unit, and she previously served in the 
healthcare fraud and government fraud unit and the consumer and 
commercial fraud unit. She has prosecuted criminal cases involving 
bribery, drug diversion schemes, and schemes to defraud the government, 
including successful prosecutions in several illegal drug distribution 
cases involving ``pill mills.''
  Over the course of her legal career, Ms. Costello has tried 11 cases 
to verdict, all of which were before a jury.
  Ms. Costello has the strong support of both of her home State 
Senators, Mr. Casey and Mr. Fetterman, and the American Bar Association 
unanimously rated her as ``well qualified.''
  Ms. Costello is a highly accomplished litigator whose breadth of 
experience and dedication to service make her an outstanding nominee to 
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. I urge my colleagues to join me 
in supporting her nomination.