[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7817-7819]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

NOMINATION OF THERESA LAZAR SPRINGMANN, OF INDIANA, TO BE UNITED STATES 
          DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
go into executive session and proceed to consideration of Executive 
Calendar No. 77, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Theresa Lazar 
Springmann, of Indiana, to be United States District Judge for the 
Northern District of Indiana.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased today to rise in support of 
Judge Theresa Lazar Springmann, who has been nominated to the United 
States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
  Judge Springmann has served on both sides of the bench with 
distinction. Upon graduation from the University of Notre Dame Law 
School, Judge Springmann clerked for the Honorable James T. Moody of 
the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana--
the very court she will join upon her confirmation. She then entered 
private practice as an associate with Spangler, Jennings & Dougherty, 
P.C., and later became the first woman partner there. During her tenure 
in private practice, she specialized in insurance defense litigation, 
automobile liability, contract disputes, unfair competition and trade 
infringement. She also participated in her firm's pro bono program, 
accepting at least three cases a year from Legal Services of Northwest 
Indiana, Inc., in Gary IN.
  Judge Springmann has made a broad range of contributions to the bar. 
She was a founding member of the Lake County Bar Association and has 
served in various leadership roles with this organization. Judge 
Springmann is also a member of the Federal Bar Association and the 
Women Lawyers Association.
  Since 1995, Judge Springmann has served as a United States Magistrate 
Judge for the Northern District of Indiana. From 2000 to 2002, she 
served as the Federal Magistrate Judges Association Seventh Circuit 
Director, where she represented all magistrate judges in the Seventh 
Circuit in forming policy positions and recommendations to the 
Administrative Office and Federal Judicial Council on issues concerning 
magistrate judges.
  I am confident that Judge Springmann will serve on the bench with 
integrity, intelligence and fairness.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today we again demonstrate how cooperative 
the Senate and, in particular, Democratic Senators are being to an 
administration that continues to refuse to work with us to select 
consensus court judges who could be confirmed relatively quickly by the 
Senate and fill the remaining Federal court vacancies.
  In the prior 17 months I chaired the Judiciary Committee, we were 
able to confirm 100 judges and vastly reduce the judicial vacancies 
that Republicans had stored up by refusing to allow nominees of 
President Clinton to be

[[Page 7818]]

considered. We were able to do so despite the hostility of the White 
House. The judicial nominees of this President are conservatives, many 
of them quite to the right of the mainstream. Many of these nominees 
have been active in conservative political causes or groups. Democrats 
moved fairly and expeditiously on as many as we could consistent with 
our obligations to evaluate carefully and thoroughly these nominees to 
lifetime seats in the federal courts.
  Last year alone, in an election year, the Democratic-led Senate 
confirmed 72 judicial nominees, more than in any of the prior six years 
of Republican control. Not once did the Republican-controlled Committee 
consider that many of President Clinton's district and circuit court 
nominees.
  While Republicans point to the 377 judges confirmed under President 
Clinton, but they fail to mention that only 245 of them were confirmed 
during the 6\1/2\ years Republicans controlled the Senate. That amounts 
to only 38 confirmations per year when the Republicans last held a 
majority and there was a Democrat in the White House. In 1999, the 
Republican majority did not hold a hearing on any judicial nominee 
until June. Tomorrow, the Republican majority will hold its seventh 
hearing including a 32nd judicial nominee in the last 2 months. The 
Senate Judiciary Committee is acting like a runaway train, operating at 
breakneck speed and breaking longstanding rules and practices of the 
committee.
  This year we have had a rocky beginning with a hearing for three 
controversial circuit court nominees that has caused a great many 
problems we might have avoided. The chairman's insistence on 
terminating debate on the Cook and Roberts nominations is another 
serious problem. Of course, the administration's unwillingness to work 
with the Senate so that we may be provided the documents and 
information needed to proceed with a final vote on the Estrada 
nomination has already proved to be a significant problem. The 
opposition to the Sutton nomination is also extensive. The concerns 
about the Tymkovich nomination are significant. The unprecedented 
nature of a President renominating someone for the same judicial 
position after a defeat in committee has led to the Owen nomination is 
pending on the floor with the assent of only the Republicans on the 
committee.
  Nonetheless, the Senate has proceeded to confirm 114 of President 
Bush's judicial nominees, including 14 this year alone. The Senate 
confirmed the controversial nomination of Jay Bybee to the Ninth 
Circuit, another pro-life judicial nominee. With this one circuit court 
confirmation, the Senate has confirmed more circuit court judges than 
Republicans allowed to be confirmed in the entire 1996 session. In 
addition, I note that it was not until September 1999, 9 months into 
the year, that 14 of President Clinton's judicial nominees were 
confirmed in the first session of the last Congress in which 
Republicans controlled the Senate majority. At the pace set by 
Republicans now, we are a full six months ahead of that schedule.
  The Indiana nominee, Theresa Lazar Springmann, is currently a U.S. 
Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District 
of Indiana. She has the bipartisan support of her home State Senators. 
The fact that she is being confirmed to the district court months in 
advance of the vacancy arising demonstrates how cooperative the Senate 
is being. Only rarely has a nominee been confirmed in advance of a 
vacancy arising. The nominee is well regarded and supported by her home 
State Senators. I congratulate Judge Springmann and her family on her 
confirmation.
  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Theresa 
Springmann who is being considered for a position on the United States 
District Court of Northern Indiana.
  Early last year, Judge William Lee and Judge James Moody informed me 
of their decisions to assume senior status after distinguished careers 
of public service. Both of these individuals are remarkable leaders on 
the Federal bench, and I applaud their leadership to Indiana and to the 
legal profession.
  Immediately upon hearing of these decisions, I notified the White 
House and was asked by the President to help find the most qualified 
candidates to fill these two important positions in Hammond and Fort 
Wayne. I took this role very seriously and selected the candidates who 
would best serve the Northern District of Indiana.
  After sharing my selections with my friend and colleague Senator Evan 
Bayh, I submitted the names and applications of three outstanding 
candidates to the White House for their consideration. The President 
recently selected Assistant United States Attorney Philip Simon and 
United States Magistrate Theresa Springmann.
  Judge Theresa Springmann was the first woman to be made partner at 
Spangler, Jennings & Dougherty, the largest law firm in Northwest 
Indiana. She followed up this distinction by becoming the first woman 
judicial officer in the Northern District of Indiana. Judge Springmann 
has served as a United States magistrate judge since March of 1995, 
where she has presided over 30 civil jury trials, 10 civil and criminal 
bench trials, and conducted over 300 settlement conferences for the 
district court.
  She has received a number of high performance ratings throughout her 
tenure as a magistrate judge, including the A.V. rating from 
Martindale-Hubbell and the highest judicial rating from the Lake County 
Bar Association.
  I believe that Theresa Springmann will demonstrate remarkable 
leadership to Northern Indiana and will appropriately uphold and defend 
our laws under the Constitution. I encourage my colleagues to support 
her nomination.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. 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 Theresa Lazar Springmann, of Indiana, to be United States District 
Judge for the Northern District of Indiana? On this question, the yeas 
and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Bond), 
the Senator from Ohio (Mr. DeWine), and the Senator from Alaska (Mr. 
Stevens) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. 
Edwards), the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), 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 ``aye.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 93, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 112 Ex.]

                                YEAS--93

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Corzine
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     Dayton
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham (FL)
     Graham (SC)
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     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
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Bond
     DeWine
     Edwards
     Inouye
     Kerry
     Lieberman
     Stevens
  The nomination was confirmed.

[[Page 7819]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The President will be notified of the Senate's 
action.
  The Senator from Utah.

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