[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 529-530]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

  NOMINATION OF PHILIP R. MARTINEZ TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate will now proceed to 
executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk 
will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Philip R. 
Martinez, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Western 
District of Texas.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there 
will now be 15 minutes evenly divided between the chairman and ranking 
member of the Judiciary Committee.
  Who yields time?
  The Senator from Texas is recognized.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I am sure the distinguished chairman 
of the committee will be here shortly. I am very pleased that I am the 
first person to speak on behalf of Judge Phil Martinez to be a United 
States District Judge for the Western District of Texas.
  Of all the courts in the country that are desperate for judges, those 
on the United States-Mexico border have the most critical need. 
According to statistics from 2000, the Western District of Texas 
handles the most criminal cases in the country, 4,434 per year, while 
the Southern District of Texas, for which Randy Crane awaits 
confirmation, has the third highest level after California's Southern 
District.
  Currently, the Western District of Texas is facing a criminal 
caseload of 1,983 pending cases and 2,758 defendants waiting for trial 
because we do not have these judgeships filled.
  In El Paso, 884 cases are pending overall, more than any other region 
in the district. Each day, more cases are added, overwhelming an 
already overburdened Western District. Relief is needed.
  Our war against terrorism is heating up as well as our war on drugs. 
Therefore, it is more crucial that we have highly qualified judges and 
law enforcement officials in charge of our justice system along the 
United States-Mexico border. This is a decisive time for our Nation and 
our borders.
  Senator Dianne Feinstein and I have introduced a bill to expand the 
number of Federal courts along the border. While I encourage Senators 
to support that bill, I also urge my colleagues to expedite the 
confirmation of border prosecutors and other judges such as Judge 
Martinez and Randy Crane.
  At the same time, certainly we must be very careful with the 
selection of U.S. district judges because, as we all know, they have 
lifetime appointments. That is why I am very pleased to recommend Judge 
Martinez.
  Judge Martinez has presided over a State district court in El Paso 
since 1991. Previously, he was a judge of a county court at law, having 
been elected by the people of El Paso. He has also been a practicing 
lawyer with the firm of Kemp, Smith, an excellent firm in El Paso. He 
has more than 10 years of experience at the trial court level, 
presiding over felony, juvenile, and civil cases. In 1979, Judge 
Martinez graduated from the University of Texas-El Paso with highest 
honors, receiving his law degree in 1982 from Harvard University.
  In addition, he has been a director of the El Paso Legal Assistance 
Society, the El Paso Holocaust Museum, the El Paso Cancer Treatment 
Center, and the Hispanic Leadership Institute. He was named the 1991-
1992 El Paso Young Lawyers Association's ``Outstanding Young Lawyer'' 
after winning its 1990 Outstanding Achievement Award.
  Judge Martinez is known in El Paso as a brilliant thinker and an 
effective

[[Page 530]]

and hard worker. He is known to make fair and thoughtful judgment based 
on principle. I cannot think of anyone to better fill the pending 
judicial vacancy in El Paso at a pivotal time for this court.
  I am very pleased to recommend to my colleagues Judge Phil Martinez 
to be a United States district judge for the Western District in El 
Paso.
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the Senator 
from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I join in the remarks of the distinguished 
Senator from Texas, and I rise also to express my enthusiastic support 
for Philip R. Martinez who has been nominated to be a U.S. District 
Court judge for the Western District of Texas.
  Judge Martinez is an extremely well-qualified nominee who has 
distinguished himself with hard work, and he has a fine intellect. He 
will do great service for the citizens of our country.
  Judge Martinez graduated from Harvard Law School in 1982 and 
thereafter developed a commercial litigation practice involving 
antitrust, securities fraud, deceptive trade practices, contract, and, 
of course, banking issues. He was elected to serve as a judge in El 
Paso County Court of Law No. 1 for a 4-year term beginning in January 
1991, and he resigned this position in October 1991 to accept 
appointment by the Governor to the 327th Judicial District Court. He 
was subsequently elected to this position for a 2-year term beginning 
in January 1993 and reelected for consecutive terms thereafter. 
Clearly, he has the experience and temperament required for this 
position.
  While I am speaking about Judge Martinez's qualifications, I would be 
remiss not to make an observation or two about how judge Martinez's 
nomination fits into the bigger picture of how the Senate is treating 
judicial nominees this year. As I mentioned 10 days ago, I think we 
started off the session with appropriate diligence. Chairman Leahy 
scheduled a hearing the first week we were in session on one circuit 
court nominee and five district court nominees. That same week we voted 
on two district court nominees that had been held over from the end of 
the last session.
  Yesterday we had a vote on Callie V. Granade, and after today there 
will be no more holdovers from last year. So I commend the chairman and 
the Democratic leader for getting off to a good start.
  Judge Martinez's nomination also provides a useful example of how, 
contrary to some unsupported insinuations, the White House has worked 
with us, consulted appropriately, and reached across the aisle to find 
good bipartisan nominees. Judge Martinez, who belongs to the El Paso 
County Democratic Party, received strong support from both of his home 
State Senators. He is a highly qualified Hispanic of Mexican descent 
who will add an important point of view to the bench.
  I sincerely hope that our record so far this year is not a false 
start. The Judiciary Committee in the Senate should continue to step up 
the pace of hearings and votes on judicial nominees. No one can dispute 
that we have plenty of work to do.
  Taking account of today's vote, there are 98 vacancies on the Federal 
judiciary. We have received 24 new nominations already this year. Added 
to the 34 nominees after today who saw no committee action last 
session, we will now have a total of 59 nominees pending in the Senate. 
I am optimistic that we will confirm all of these and then some. Our 
yardstick for 2002, President Bush's second year in office, is 1994, 
the second year of President Clinton's first term. That year the Senate 
confirmed 100 judicial nominees. I am confident the Republicans and 
Democrats can work together to achieve and perhaps even hopefully 
exceed 100 confirmations in 2002.
  So I look forward to working together with Chairman Leahy and my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle and on both sides of the 
committee to accomplish this goal. I appreciate the work of my 
colleagues on the other side in doing this work, because the Federal 
judiciary is in a crisis and we have to do something about it. The best 
we can do is take these nominees up and vote on them and hopefully get 
them confirmed so they can get on the bench and help us during this 
time of crisis where we do have an awful lot of pressure on the Federal 
judiciary.
  I appreciate, Mr. President, that you are a member of Judiciary 
Committee, and I just want to remark on your fine work on the committee 
through the years.
  With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THOMAS. 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.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask we move forward with the vote.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. All time having expired, the 
question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of 
Philip R. Martinez, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Western 
District of Texas? On this question, the yeas and nays have been 
ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) 
and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Miller) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Thompson), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), the Senator from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Specter), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Lott), 
and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran) are necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 93, nays 0, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 12 Ex.]

                                YEAS--93

     Akaka
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carnahan
     Carper
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Clinton
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corzine
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     Dayton
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Cochran
     Kerry
     Lott
     McCain
     Miller
     Specter
     Thompson
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is laid on the table. The President shall be immediately 
notified of the Senate's action.

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