[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 22552-22554]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

   NOMINATION OF KIM R. GIBSON, OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO BE UNITED STATES 
        DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will proceed to executive session, 
and the clerk will report the nomination.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Kim R. Gibson, of 
Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge for the Western 
District of Pennsylvania.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I yield my time to the Senator from 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter, is 
recognized.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I am sure my colleagues want to hear 
about the outstanding qualifications of this judicial nominee so they 
will be prepared to vote yea or nay.
  The Senate is about to vote on the nomination of Common Pleas Judge 
Kim Gibson for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of 
Pennsylvania. Judge Gibson now serves on the State court, where he has 
been a distinguished jurist since 1998. He has gone through the 
bipartisan, nonpartisan nominating panel that Senator Santorum and I 
have set up. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy in 1974. He 
has a law degree from Dickinson Law School, magna cum laude, 1975. He 
served with the defenders office helping the indigent. He has had a 
distinguished practice and now is

[[Page 22553]]

on the Common Pleas bench in Somerset County, PA. He is well grounded 
academically, well grounded professionally, and I recommend to my 
colleagues that he will make an outstanding Federal judge.
  I now yield to Senator Santorum.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I associate myself with the remarks of 
the senior Senator from Pennsylvania. I thank my colleagues for 
allowing the vote to go forward on this very distinguished individual.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today we vote to confirm another district 
court nominee, to the Western District of Pennsylvania. This nominee, 
Mr. Kim Gibson, is currently a judge on the Court of Common Pleas in 
Somerset County, in Western Pennsylvania. Judge Gibson is a graduate of 
West Point Military Academy and graduated second in his class from 
Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, PA. Over the course of his career 
he has served in the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps and the public 
defender service. Not surprisingly, the ABA gave this nominee its 
highest rating--unanimous ``well qualified.''
  With today's confirmation, the Senate has now confirmed 154 judicial 
nominees for this President. As I noted this week, the current pace of 
confirmation stands in stark contrast to what occurred with judicial 
nominees during the Clinton administration. It was not until well into 
the fourth year of President Clinton's second term when Republicans 
controlled the Senate, before this many judicial nominees were 
confirmed. It took President Reagan, during his first term, almost to 
the end of his fourth year to get this many judicial nominees 
confirmed, and that was with a Senate that was controlled by the same 
party. It also took President George H.W. Bush well into his fourth 
year to get this many of his judicial nominees confirmed.
  In contrast, today, with the shifts in Senate control, it has 
effectively taken a little more than 2 years of rapid Senate action to 
confirm 154 judicial nominees for this President, including 100 during 
Democratic control. This year alone the Senate has confirmed 54 
judicial nominees, including 11 circuit court nominees in 2003. That is 
more confirmations in just nine months than Republicans allowed for 
President Clinton in 1996, 1995, 1999, or 2000. Overall, we have 
confirmed 28 circuit court nominees of President Bush since July of 
2001, which is more than were confirmed at this time in the third year 
of President Reagan's first term, President George H.W. Bush's term, or 
either of President Clinton's terms.
  The Senate has held hearings for 13 Pennsylvania nominees of 
President Bush's to the Federal courts in Pennsylvania. While I was 
chairman, the Senate held hearings for and confirmed 10 nominees to the 
district courts in Pennsylvania, plus Judge D. Brooks Smith to the 
Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
  A look at the Federal judiciary in Pennsylvania indicates that 
President Bush's nominees have been treated far better than President 
Clinton's. Today, there is no State in the union that has had more 
Federal judicial nominees confirmed by this Senate than Pennsylvania.
  This is in sharp contrast to the way vacancies in Pennsylvania were 
left unfilled during Republican control of the Senate when President 
Clinton was in the White House, particularly regarding nominees in the 
western half of the State.
  Just a few months ago, on May 16, 2003, Jon Delano wrote in the 
Pittsburgh Business Times, an article titled ``Despite Bush Protests, 
Court Vacancies are Down,'' about how this President's nominees in the 
western part of Pennsylvania have been treated more fairly than 
President Clinton's nominees. He wrote:

       Take the Western District of Pennsylvania, for example. 
     During the years of the Santorum filibuster, that court of 10 
     judges had as many as five vacancies. Today, the Senate has 
     confirmed four Bush appointees--Judges Joy Contie, David 
     Cercone, Terry McVerry, and Art Schwab--and the fifth 
     nomination, attorney Tom Hardiman, has just been sent to the 
     Senate.
       With the elevation and confirmation of Judge Brooks Smith 
     to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the president still needs to 
     name one more judge to the local court, but once completed, 
     Mr. Bush, with less than three years in office, will have 
     named--and the Senate will have confirmed--six of the 10 
     judges on the local federal court. That hardly sounds like 
     obstructionism.

  Despite the best efforts and diligence of the senior Senator from 
Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, to secure the confirmation of all of the 
judicial nominees from every part of his home State, there were nine 
nominees by President Clinton to Pennsylvania vacancies who never got a 
vote: Patrick Toole, John Bingler, Robert Freedberg, Lynett Norton, 
Legrome Davis, David Fineman, Harry Litman, Stephen Lieberman, and 
Robert Cindrich to the Third Circuit. Despite how well-qualified these 
nominees were, many of their nominations sat pending before the Senate 
for more than a year without being considered.
  The record of this nominee stands in contrast to the record of many 
of this President's judicial nominees, particularly for circuit 
positions. Judge Gibson received a unanimous ``well qualified'' rating 
from the American Bar Association and has enjoyed a tremendous career 
as both a litigator and a judge. Far too many of this President's 
judicial nominees have limited legal experience and no judicial 
experience but significant partisan experience. In fact, 23 of this 
President's judicial nominees have earned partial or majority ``not 
qualified'' ratings from the ABA. Another nominee to the same court, 
Tom Hardiman, has significantly less litigation experience, no judicial 
experience and was give a partial ``not qualified'' rating by the ABA. 
It is also interesting to note that their local bar association, the 
Allegheny County Bar Association, gave the two nominees very different 
peer-review ratings. Judge Gibson received a rating of ``highly 
recommended'' for the district court position. Mr. Hardiman, however, 
received a rating of ``not recommended'' by the same local bar 
association.
  Certainly, the citizens of Western Pennsylvania deserve a well 
qualified judiciary to hear their important legal claims in Federal 
court. I am pleased to lend my support to Judge Gibson's nomination. He 
will be the 13th judicial nominee of this President confirmed to the 
State of Pennsylvania and the fifth judge confirmed to the Western 
District of Pennsylvania. I congratulate Judge Gibson and his family.
  Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Kim R. Gibson, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge 
for the Western District of Pennsylvania?
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. REID. I announce that 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 Maryland (Ms. Mikulski), and the Senator 
from Georgia (Mr. Miller) are necessarily absent.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``yea.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sessions). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 94, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 357 Ex.]

                                YEAS--94

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     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
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy

[[Page 22554]]


     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     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--6

     Edwards
     Graham (FL)
     Kerry
     Lieberman
     Mikulski
     Miller
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is laid on the table and the President shall be immediately 
notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________