[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17073-17075]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION
   NOMINATION OF DAVID G. CAMPBELL, OF ARIZONA, TO BE UNITED STATES 
               DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The hour of 11:30 having arrived, the Senate 
will proceed to executive session for the consideration of Executive 
Calendar No. 227 until the hour of 11:45, with the time equally divided 
between the chairman and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee 
or their designees.
  The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of David G. Campbell, of 
Arizona, to be United States District Judge for the District of 
Arizona.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                      Unanimous Consent Agreement

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture 
vote with respect to the Wolski nomination be vitiated; provided 
further that at 2:15 today the Senate resume the motion to proceed to 
S. 11; further, I ask unanimous consent that on

[[Page 17074]]

Wednesday the time between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. be equally divided 
between the two leaders or their designees; that at 11:30 the Senate 
proceed to the vote on invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 
11; and, regardless of the outcome of that vote the Senate then proceed 
to an immediate vote on the confirmation of Victor Wolski to be a judge 
of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
  I further ask unanimous consent that immediately after the 
confirmation of the Wolski nomination the Senate proceed en bloc to 
Executive Calendar Nos. 87, 129, and 130; and, further, that the 
nominations be confirmed and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, 
and the Senate then resume legislative session.
  Finally, I ask unanimous consent that following that action the 
Senate then proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 77, S. 925, 
the State Department authorization bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object--I will not 
object--I will make a comment and then pose a clarification.
  I talked to the majority leader earlier today about the concerns that 
we have regarding Mr. Wolski. Although it was not our intent to extend 
the debate indefinitely, it was our view that, given the nature of his 
nomination, it deserved a little additional attention and some specific 
time for debate beyond that which we were provided this morning.
  I wish to express my appreciation to the majority leader for giving 
us that opportunity. I hope, if there are breaks in the debate either 
today or tonight, that Senators who have an interest in this particular 
nomination use that time in addition to the amount of time that is 
earmarked for the debate on the nomination tomorrow morning. So we will 
certainly find a way in which to make that part of the schedule.
  The clarification: As I understand it--and I ask for the majority 
leader's affirmation--Nos. 89, 129, and 130 are the nominations 
involving the Federal Claims Court. They are the other nominees whose 
names are still pending on the Executive Calendar. I ask the majority 
leader if that is, indeed, the case.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, that is the case, and the understanding as 
put forth in the unanimous consent request is that we proceed to them 
en bloc. They are the other three on the claims court.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I have no objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for no more 
than 2 minutes on the nomination of David Campbell upon which we are 
about to vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I advise my colleagues that the person we are 
about to vote on is one of the smartest candidates for Federal district 
court that I have ever seen nominated by a President of either party. 
His name is David Campbell. He is nominated to be a U.S. District Judge 
for the District of Arizona.
  He has a distinguished record in the State of Arizona, primarily with 
the Phoenix law firm of Osborn and Maledon. He was a graduate of the 
University of Utah Law School in 1979, where he was a note editor on 
the Law Review and was awarded the Order of Coif.
  He clerked for both Judge Clifford Wallace for the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice 
William Rehnquist.
  He has practiced primarily in the civil area but has a broad 
experience, including a lot of work with the Arizona State Bar 
Association's Committee on Rules of Professional Responsibility, and he 
has been cobar counsel in a majority bar disciplinary case.
  In addition to his work in the law practice, he has taught as adjunct 
professor of law at the Arizona State University Law School and was a 
visiting professor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young 
University where he was named Professor of the Year.
  He has published articles and has had a distinguished career as a 
lawyer in the State of Arizona.
  I think the Senate will be proud to have confirmed him to the Federal 
bench. He epitomizes what we are looking for in judicial temperament, 
intelligence and integrity, and I think the State of Arizona and the 
U.S. bench generally will be the better as a result of our confirmation 
of David Campbell.
  I commend the President for his nomination of David Campbell.
  I also express appreciation to David's wife Stacey and their five 
children for putting up with what will now be a career on the Federal 
bench for this very fine candidate, David Campbell.
  I urge my colleagues to support the confirmation of his nomination to 
be a U.S. Federal judge.
  I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to express my strong support 
for the confirmation of David G. Campbell to serve as a judge of the 
United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
  David Campbell is an extremely well-qualified nominee with a 
significant amount of litigation experience, and he will make an 
excellent addition to the federal bench.
  He received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude, as well as his 
law degree, from the University of Utah--which, in my view, is a 
reliable and persuasive indication of his excellent judgment.
  Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Campbell clerked for Ninth 
Circuit Judge Clifford Wallace, and for then Associate Justice William 
Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court.
  He joined the Phoenix law firm of Meyer, Hendricks, Victor, Osborn & 
Maledon in 1982 and became a partner there in 1986. Since 1995, Mr. 
Campbell has been a partner at its successor firm, Osborn Maledon, 
where he practices in the area of general civil litigation. The 
American Bar Association bestowed on Mr. Campbell its highest rating of 
unanimously well qualified in recognition of his outstanding legal 
skills and reputation.
  In addition to his distinguished legal career, Mr. Campbell has been 
a great asset to his community and has donated many hours of pro bono 
service and volunteer time to help individuals and families in need in 
his community. His volunteer service has included building homes for 
the homeless in Mexico, providing Christmas supplies to crises 
nurseries, and providing back to school clothing for disadvantaged 
children. He was also named Professor of the Year in 1991 by the J. 
Rueben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University for his service as 
a visiting civil procedure professor.
  I am confident that David Campbell will be a model jurist, and I urge 
my colleagues to join me in supporting his confirmation.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today we vote to confirm David Campbell to 
a lifetime appointment on the United States District Court for the 
District of Arizona. With this confirmation, we will fill the sole 
vacancy on that court--which is actually not even vacant yet. Mr. 
Campbell is nominated to a new position that will become vacant on July 
15. I have been glad to work with the Senators from Arizona to consider 
this nominee and provide bipartisan support. I congratulate the nominee 
and his family.
  The Senate has now confirmed 133 judges nominated by President Bush, 
including 26 circuit court judges. One hundred judicial nominees were 
confirmed when Democrats acted as the Senate majority for 17 months 
from the summer of 2001 to adjournment last year. After today, 33 will 
have been confirmed in the other 12 months in which Republicans have 
controlled the confirmation process under President

[[Page 17075]]

 Bush. This total of 133 judges confirmed for President Bush is more 
confirmations than the Republicans allowed President Clinton in all of 
1995, 1996 and 1997--the first 3 years they controlled the Senate 
process for President Clinton. In those 3 full years, the Republican 
leadership in the Senate allowed only 111 judicial nominees to be 
confirmed, which included only 18 circuit court judges. We have already 
exceeded that total by 20 percent and the circuit court total by 40 
percent with 6 months remaining to us this year. In truth, we have 
achieved all this in less than 2 years because of the delays in 
organizing and reorganizing the Senate in 2001. The Judiciary Committee 
was not even reassigned until July 10, 2001, so we have now confirmed 
133 judges in less than 2 years.
  In the first half of this year, the 33 confirmations is more than 
Republicans allowed to be confirmed in the entire 1996 session, when 
only 17 district court judges were added to the Federal courts across 
the Nation. In the first half of this year, with 9 circuit court 
confirmations, we have already exceeded the average of seven per year 
achieved by Republican leadership from 1995 through the early part of 
2001. That is more circuit court confirmations in 6 months than 
Republicans allowed confirmed in the entire 1996 session, in which 
there were none confirmed; in all of 1997, when there were 7 confirmed; 
in all of 1999, when there were 7 confirmed; or in all of 2000, when 
there were 8 confirmed. The Senate is moving two to three times faster 
for this President's nominees than for President Clinton's, despite the 
fact that the current appellate court nominees are more controversial, 
divisive and less widely-supported than President Clinton's appellate 
court nominees were.
  The confirmation of David Campbell to the District Court for Arizona 
illustrates the effect of the reforms to the process that the 
Democratic leadership has spearheaded, despite the poor treatment of 
too many Democratic nominees through the practice of anonymous holds 
and other obstructionist tactics employed by some in the preceding 6 
years. David Campbell is the fourth Federal judge confirmed from 
Arizona for President Bush. Under Democratic control, the Senate 
confirmed Judge David Bury, Judge Cindy Jorgenson and Judge Frederick 
Martone to the District Court for the District of Arizona.
  If the Senate did not confirm another judicial nominee all year and 
simply adjourned today, we would have treated President Bush more 
fairly and would have acted on more of his judicial nominees than 
Republicans did for President Clinton in 1995-97 or the period 1996-99. 
In addition, the vacancies on the Federal courts around the country are 
significantly lower than the 80 vacancies Republicans left at the end 
of 1997 or the 110 vacancies that Democrats inherited in the summer of 
2001. We continue well below the 67 vacancy level that Senator Hatch 
used to call ``full employment'' for the Federal judiciary. Indeed we 
have reduced vacancies to their lowest level in the last 13 years. So 
while unemployment has continued to climb for Americans to 6.1 percent 
last month, the Senate has helped lower the vacancy rate in Federal 
courts to a historically low level that we have not witnessed in over a 
decade. Of course, the Senate is not adjourning for the year and the 
Judiciary Committee continues to hold hearings for Bush judicial 
nominees at between two and four times as many as it did for President 
Clinton's.
  For those who are claiming that Democrats are blockading this 
President's judicial nominees, this is another example of how quickly 
and easily the Senate can act when we proceed cooperatively with 
consensus nominees. The Senate's record fairly considered has been 
outstanding--especially when contrasted with the obstruction of 
President Clinton's moderate judicial nominees by Republicans between 
1996 and 2001.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate voted on 
the nomination of David Campbell to serve as a U.S. District Judge for 
the District of Arizona.
  I was unable to vote because I was returning to Washington, DC from 
official travel to Iraq in connection with my duties as a member of the 
Senate Armed Services Committee.
  Had I been present, I would have supported Mr. Campbell's 
confirmation to the district bench. After reviewing his credentials, I 
believe Mr. Campbell is well prepared to serve in this important 
position and has the proper judicial temperament to fairly and justly 
apply the law.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of David G. Campbell, of Arizona, to be 
United States District Judge for the District of Arizona?
  The yeas and nays have been ordered and the clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe) 
is necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), the 
Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Florida 
(Mr. Graham), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), the Senator 
from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. 
Miller), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson) are necessarily 
absent.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``yea.''
  The result was announced--yeas 92, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 263 Ex.]

                                YEAS--92

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Corzine
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     Dayton
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham (SC)
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--8

     Biden
     Edwards
     Graham (FL)
     Inhofe
     Kerry
     Lieberman
     Miller
     Nelson (FL)
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sessions). Under the previous order, the 
President shall be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________