[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6333-6334]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, there is another issue we have made slow 
progress on recently that we need to accelerate and that is the 
judicial nomination process. Throughout my time as leader, I have done 
my very best to stand on the principle of having fair up-or-down votes 
for each of the judicial nominees. I believe it is our responsibility, 
our constitutional duty, grounded in the advice and consent clause of 
section 2 of the Constitution, and it is reinforced by over 200 years 
of Senate history; it is a duty we have in the Senate. I compliment the 
body on the two Justices who were confirmed--a Chief Justice, an 
associate Justice, and all the district court judges who were 
confirmed. In the coming weeks, we need to continue building on this 
progress, as with all the rest of the issues coming before us. We will 
confirm new nominees to fill vacancies on the Federal bench.
  As we all know, we need our courts to have judges who are well-
qualified, mainstream judges, who demonstrate the highest integrity, 
and who will practice judicial restraint and will respect the rule of 
law and the Constitution.
  After consulting with Chairman Specter, Senator McConnell, and many 
of my colleagues, I am pleased to announce that in the coming weeks we 
will move forward on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the DC 
Circuit Court of Appeals. I will make every effort to see that he gets 
a vote before the Memorial Day recess.
  President Bush nominated Mr. Kavanaugh on July 25, 2003, 3 years ago. 
He has been waiting for that up-or-down vote on the floor of the Senate 
since that time. That is almost 3 years ago. That is a long enough time 
for us to bring that nomination forward to the floor and to act on that 
nomination. He is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, and 
he is also a former Supreme Court clerk. He has sterling credentials. 
Most of us have studied his record.
  Mr. Kavanaugh has a broad range of experience as a prosecutor, as a 
lawyer in private practice, and as a trusted counsel and adviser to 
President Bush.
  Throughout his entire career, Brett Kavanaugh has demonstrated the 
fairminded temperament and intellectual prowess that is needed to serve 
as a Federal appellate judge.
  There will be a lot more to say about him in the coming weeks. We 
will talk about that nomination. For now, I urge my colleagues to 
refocus on the nomination process and make sure it will work fairly. I 
want to be able to approach the process and dignify it in a civil way, 
rejecting the obstruction and personal attacks that have arisen on the 
floor in times past. Let's embrace the principle of a fair up-or-down 
vote. It is right to do for the nominees--to treat them in a dignified 
way--and for the American people, who depend on fairminded judges to 
resolve disputes and interpret our laws.
  I yield the floor.

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