[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 25555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    NOMINATION OF THOMAS M. HARDIMAN

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, it is my understanding that the Senate 
will soon take up in executive session the nomination of Thomas M. 
Hardiman to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western 
District of Pennsylvania, and I recommend to my colleagues that he be 
confirmed. He has an outstanding academic record.
  Mr. Hardiman received his bachelor's degree, cum laude, from the 
University of Notre Dame in 1987. He received his law degree, cum laude 
again, from Georgetown University Law Center. He was notes and comments 
editor of the Georgetown Law Journal, which is an indication of 
academic achievement and legal excellence in writing. He has been 
admitted to the bars of Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and 
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He has been in the active practice of 
law since 1990. He currently is a partner in the prestigious Pittsburgh 
firm of Reed Smith.
  He has been very active with professional affiliations as a 
Pennsylvania Young Lawyers Division delegate to the American Bar 
Association's House of Delegates. He served as a hearing officer for 
the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board. He has been active in community 
affairs, president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh, 
and he currently serves as director of that organization. He was 
formerly an adjunct faculty member of LaRoche College.
  As suggested by the dates of graduation, Mr. Hardiman is a young man, 
in his late thirties. I think he brings an element of diversity to the 
court, tempering some of the judges who are older. But starting at the 
age of 38 affords an opportunity to develop skills and expertise on the 
district court as a trial judge.
  From what I know about him, and I have observed him over the better 
part of the past decade, he has the capability perhaps to become an 
appellate judge. That will depend upon the development of his skills 
and his professional accomplishments as a judge.
  He was recommended by the nonpartisan nominating panel which Senator 
Santorum and I have. He is a vigorous young man. He has a family, a 
wife and three children, residing in Fox Chapel. I think he will make 
an outstanding addition to the United States District Court for the 
Western District of Pennsylvania.

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