[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 22782-22783]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

  NOMINATION OF LARRY ALAN BURNS, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE UNITED STATES 
         DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to the consideration of Executive Calendar No. 572, which the 
clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Larry Alan Burns, of 
California, to be United States District Judge for the Southern 
District of California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, we are about to have a vote on a judge. 
I wanted to take this time, 2 minutes, to offer my support for this 
nominee. I want to say this particular nominee for the Southern 
District Court of California, Larry Burns, is very qualified for this 
position. He is a native Californian. He is a graduate of Point Loma 
College and the University of San Diego Law School.
  I want to emphasize the wide support Judge Burns has from law 
enforcement and civil rights organizations. His firm commitment to the 
law was well regarded while he was both a Federal and a State 
prosecutor. He has developed an equally respected reputation as a 
judge, due to his character and his legal expertise.
  So I believe the Southern District will benefit greatly from the 
exemplary services of Judge Burns. I fully support confirmation of this 
nominee.
  At a time when we have a lot of partisan discord, I think it is 
important to know that in California, Senator Feinstein and I, working 
with the administration, have a wonderful process in place by which the 
two Democrat Senators get three people on a committee to pass judgment 
on these nominees and the administration appoints three people. Each 
nominee for the district court goes through our process and they are 
then recommended to the President on a majority vote.
  What has happened is we have taken the politics, truly, out of this 
judicial selection process. We have come up with mainstream candidates. 
That is very important because I believed the President when he came 
forward and said he was going to govern from the center. When he puts 
forward judicial nominees who are from the center, who are not radical, 
who are not far to the right, I am the first one to support them, and I 
have supported well over 90 percent of them.
  When it comes to voting for nominees who are off the scales and not 
representative of the values of America, I am the first one to say it 
is not right. We have a process in place for the district courts that I 
only wish we had for the higher courts--the circuit courts--because it 
isn't working that well. But it is working very well in the district 
courts.
  Again, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on Larry Burns's nomination, 
and I hope it will be a unanimous vote.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I am pleased that we are now turning to 
the nomination of Magistrate Judge Larry Alan Burns for the Southern 
District of California. This well qualified nominee is the product of 
the exemplary bipartisan commission that Senators Feinstein and Boxer 
have worked so hard to maintain. It is a testament to their diligence 
that we have such stellar nominees heading to California's federal 
courts.
  Judge Burns has been a United States Magistrate for the past six 
years in San Diego. Prior to becoming a Magistrate, Mr. Burns gained 
significant trial experience as a State and federal criminal 
prosecutor. Judge Burns has also served as a mentor to disadvantaged 
students, assisting them in achieving their educational and career 
goals. He was honored for his work in this area with a Faculty 
Mentoring Award from San Diego State University in 1996. In addition, 
he has taught legal courses at both the undergraduate and graduate 
school levels at several San Diego universities. In light of his 
remarkable record of public service and trial experience, it is not 
surprising that the American Bar Association was unanimous in its 
determination that Judge Burns is ``Well-Qualified'' to be a federal 
district court judge.
  The Southern District of California the busiest federal district in 
the nation. Last Congress, in enacting the DOJ Reauthorization 
legislation, we created the seat that Judge Burns is nominated to in an 
effort to alleviate their staffing shortage. In light of their 
demanding caseload and corresponding staffing needs, the Judiciary 
Committee expedited nominations to the Southern District. Judge Burns 
was nominated on May 1, 2003 and was voted out of committee on 
September 4, 2003. It is unfortunate that Judge Burns and another 
nominee for this court have been pending on the floor all month but I 
am pleased that we are voting on Judge Burns today. The path of his 
nomination demonstrates that the fact that the Senate can act 
expeditiously when we receive well-qualified, consensus nominations on 
courts that need additional judges.
  Another consensus nominee for another vacancy in that district 
remains on the Senate executive calendar awaiting action. I implore the 
Senate Republican leadership to allow a prompt vote on the nomination 
of Dana Makoto Sabraw. I expect that vote to be unanimously in support, 
as well.
  Senator Feinstein also deserves much credit for working so hard to 
create these additional judgeships in the Department of Justice 
authorization we passed in 2002. These judgeships are among those we 
created for border districts that have a massive caseload and that 
needed more federal judges. We did what the Republican majority refused 
to do in the years 1995 through 2000 when there was a Democratic 
President, namely, create additional needed judgeships for the Southern 
District of California. We did so under Senate Democratic leadership 
with a Republican President. They have been available to be filled 
since July 15.
  The Judiciary Committee held hearings of Magistrate Judge Burns and 
others just before the August recess and they were unanimously reported 
by the Judiciary Committee at our first meeting on September 4. That 
was three weeks ago. In addition to the nomination of Dana Makoto 
Sabraw, which is already favorably reported and on the Senate executive 
calendar awaiting action, two more nominees to two additional vacancies 
recently created for the Southern District of California should be 
considered and reported by the Judiciary Committee tomorrow.
  I congratulate the California Senators on their outstanding work and 
this nominee and his family on this confirmation.
  Mrs. BOXER. I ask for the yeas and nays on the nomination.
  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 Larry Alan Burns, of California, to be United States District Judge 
for the Southern District of California? The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. 
Gregg), the Senator from Oklahoma

[[Page 22783]]

(Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Specter), and the 
Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Dodd), 
the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Florida 
(Mr. Graham), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), and the 
Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) are necessarily absent.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``yea.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 91, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 363 Ex.]

                                YEAS--91

     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
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham (SC)
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Talent
     Thomas
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--9

     Dodd
     Edwards
     Graham (FL)
     Gregg
     Inhofe
     Kerry
     Lieberman
     Specter
     Sununu
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the President will 
be notified of the Senate's action.

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