[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11845-11847]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 NOMINATION OF WILLIAM H. PRYOR TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE FOR 
                     THE ELEVENTH DISTRICT--Resumed

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we have just voted to confirm Justice 
Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. We are making 
progress. We are securing up-or-down votes on previously blocked 
nominees. We will now turn to another judge who has been considered in 
the past, Judge William H. Pryor.
  For the information of our colleagues, we are going to go immediately 
to the cloture vote. If cloture is invoked on the Pryor nomination, it 
is my expectation that we will be able to lock in a time certain for 
the final up-or-down vote on that nomination. That would be for 
tomorrow. The Democratic leader and I have consulted back and forth, 
and we will lock in a vote for 4 p.m. tomorrow, if cloture is invoked 
through the next vote.
  Following that vote, tomorrow we will consider the Sixth Circuit 
nominations and hopefully not use all of the allocated time to which we 
previously agreed. We will be doing that after the vote tomorrow, and 
we will be voting on those nominations, as well, tomorrow--late 
afternoon, hopefully, maybe early evening.
  President Bush nominated Judge Pryor on April 9, 2003, to serve on 
the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
  While the individual nominees may change, the debate continues to be 
centered on a simple and unequivocal principle.
  It is based on fairness, and it is grounded in the Constitution of 
our great Nation.
  It is the principle that every judicial nominee that comes to this 
floor deserves an up or down vote.
  Judge Pryor is also a qualified nominee. He deserves a fair vote, and 
it is our duty to cast one.
  Judge Pryor has broad legal experience as a public servant, as a 
practicing attorney, and as a law professor.
  Judge Pryor has served with distinction on the appellate bench since 
he was recess appointed last year. Many of his opinions have been 
supported by judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans.

[[Page 11846]]

  He enjoys bipartisan support inside and outside the Senate chamber.
  Yet he has had to wait more than 2 years for a fair, simple, and 
courteous up or down vote on the Senate floor.
  It is time to close debate and vote on this nominee, up or down, yes 
or no, confirm or reject.
  I will continue to work to ensure that Judge Pryor and every other 
judicial nominee get an up-or-down vote on the floor of the U.S. 
Senate.
  We are working on a process to start the Energy bill next week, as 
well as to consider the Griffith nomination on Monday and will announce 
more on that schedule tomorrow. But Members should expect a vote Monday 
evening.
  That pretty much outlines, I believe, the schedule for tonight and 
tomorrow.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is my understanding the vote Monday will 
be around 6 o'clock rather than our normal 5:30 p.m. time.
  Mr. FRIST. That is correct. The vote will be at approximately 6 
o'clock instead of the usual 5 o'clock on Monday.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will 
report Executive Calendar No. 100.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of William H. Pryor, Jr., 
of Alabama, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit.


                             cloture motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, pursuant to rule 
XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, 
which the clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on Executive 
     Calendar No. 100, William H. Pryor, Jr., of Alabama, to be 
     United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit.
         Bill Frist, Craig Thomas, Richard Burr, Pat Roberts, 
           Mitch McConnell, Jeff Sessions, Wayne Allard, Jon Kyl, 
           Richard G. Lugar, Jim DeMint, David Vitter, Richard C. 
           Shelby, Lindsey Graham, John Ensign, Pete Domenici, Bob 
           Bennett, George Allen.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
nomination of William H. Pryor, Jr., of Alabama, to be United States 
Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit, shall be brought to a close? 
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rules. The clerk will call 
the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Jeffords) 
is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 67, nays 32, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 132 Ex.]

                                YEAS--67

     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Byrd
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Roberts
     Salazar
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner

                                NAYS--32

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Boxer
     Cantwell
     Clinton
     Corzine
     Dayton
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lincoln
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Obama
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Jeffords
       
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 67, the nays are 
32. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in 
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
  The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Lott are printed in today's Record under 
``Morning Business.'')
  Mr. LOTT. 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.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in the last hour or so we made huge 
progress on an issue that has been very difficult for this body over 
the last 3 to 4 weeks, in fact I would say difficult for the last 2\1/
2\ years. The progress we have made is that for these nominees who had 
not received a fair up-or-down vote for 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, we 
are finally back in gear and getting up-or-down votes, fulfilling our 
constitutional responsibility of advice and consent.
  I am very pleased and I am very proud of this body. People who have 
been blocked for partisan reasons in the past, who have been 
obstructed, have been prevented from getting votes, have been allowed 
to get votes through regular order by going through the Judiciary 
Committee. Although it took way too long--2 years, 3 years, 4 years--
finally they have been allowed to get an up-or-down vote. I hope it 
sets the tone, and I believe it will set the tone, as we proceed over 
the coming weeks and months and address circuit court nominees and, of 
course, Supreme Court nominees who may or may not occur in the very 
near future.
  Justice Janice Rogers Brown will now serve on the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The vote was 56 to 43, a bipartisan vote, 
which shows that once these up-or-down votes are allowed and the body 
can express itself the will of the Senate will work and that this 
highly qualified nominee, as I mentioned a bit ago, who is kind, smart, 
thoughtful, and qualified, who has had to endure a lot of protracted 
and often bitter nomination discussions, is now going to be on the D.C. 
Circuit. The will of the Senate expressed itself. The bipartisan vote 
was 56 to 43.
  This last vote on William Pryor, the fact that in the past he had 
been obstructed through a partisan leadership-led effort in the past, 
once we sort of broke through that impasse, he received 67 votes on 
cloture. The vote was 67 to 32, overwhelming bipartisan support, which 
now will guarantee him what has been denied in the past, and that is a 
fair up-or-down vote. Again, the body will be able to speak.
  Everybody who sits at these desks, the people who are in the Chamber 
now, will be able to express themselves with a vote. That is how we 
give advice and consent. The vote was 67 to 32. Tomorrow at 4, he, too, 
will get an up-or-down vote, confirm or reject, on whether Members 
believe he is a qualified nominee. Members can vote their conscience, 
vote their judgment of his qualifications. The candidate, the nominee, 
will receive the up-or-down vote he deserves.
  We should treat these nominees with respect and in a reasonable 
period of time when they come to the floor, or they make it to this 
Executive Calendar, so that they receive that up-or-down vote.
  I am very pleased where we are. It is huge progress. Both sides of 
the aisle are working together on this very important judicial nominee 
process. We will continue that process tomorrow in which case by the 
end of tomorrow we should have three more up-or-down votes at 4, again 
tremendous progress. Two of the Michigan judges will be voted on 
sometime late afternoon or early evening. They will be given up-or-down 
votes, and I expect all three will be confirmed.
  I believe we have broken the impasse, as I have said, and we are 
making real progress. The early part of next week we will be having one 
more up-or-down

[[Page 11847]]

vote. That will be on Tom Griffith, and then we will go to the Energy 
bill. We want to spend plenty of time to give everybody the opportunity 
to debate and amend. I expect we would spend that whole first week and 
likely into that second week which would give everybody the opportunity 
to come forward and express themselves on a bill that I believe will 
lower gasoline prices--I cannot say that with certainty, but I believe 
this bill will--and will lower natural gas prices. For people who are 
thinking about driving on vacations, driving to work, driving their 
truck, or worried about heating in the future, the American people will 
know we are doing the Nation's business, that we are doing our very 
best to lower those prices for them as individuals.
  I am pleased where we are today. We are making real progress. I know 
there will be some other comments made tonight before we close.
  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. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________