[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13] [Senate] [Pages 18111-18112] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]NOMINATION OF JANET T. NEFF TO BE U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to Executive Calendar No. 140, which the clerk will report. The bill clerk read the nomination of Janet T. Neff, of Michigan, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Michigan. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Vermont. Mr. LEAHY. I am about to yield momentarily to the Senator from Michigan. I know the Senator from Pennsylvania has assured, as I have, the Senator from Kansas that he will have a minute. Then I will yield back whatever time remains so we can go to a rollcall vote on this nomination. Neither the Senator from Pennsylvania nor I will ask for rollcall votes on the remaining nominations. They would then have a voice vote, assuming this one is confirmed. I yield such time as the Senator from Michigan needs. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Michigan. Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I thank Judiciary Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Specter for their assistance in moving forward the nominations of Judge Paul Maloney and Judge Janet Neff and Robert Jonker to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Judge Paul Maloney has served as a circuit judge on the Berrien County Trial Court for over 10 years. Judge Maloney also brings a wealth of public service experience to the bench, including: working as a Berrien County prosecutor, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice and as chairman of the Michigan Sentencing Commission. Judge Janet Neff has served as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Third District of Michigan for nearly 20 years. In addition to her distinguished career on the bench, Judge Neff has been an active leader in Grand Rapids, including serving as the first woman president of the Grand Rapids Bar Association. Robert Jonker has been a partner at Warner, Norcross & Judd in Grand Rapids for over 12 years. A life-long Michiganian, Robert Jonker is a graduate of Calvin College and the University of Michigan Law School, and has served as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Robert Feikens in the Eastern District. This situation is critical for my State. Currently, the Western District has only one full-time judge hearing cases, and the Judicial Conference has declared it a judicial emergency. Even when the bench is full, this district presents logistical challenges because it covers Michigan cities all the way from Marquette to Benton Harbor--St. Joe. I was deeply disappointed that in the last Congress, the Senate failed to act on these three nominees despite a bipartisan agreement between myself and Senator Levin and the administration. I am pleased the full Senate will be voting to confirm the three nominees, who will all bring distinguished legal careers to the Federal bench. This is an important example of how we can work together. I hope the administration sees the value of working together in a bipartisan fashion with the Senate to ensure an independent and impartial judiciary that is accessible to all. Senator Levin and I have worked closely with the White House. While it has taken longer than we would have liked to come to this point, we are extremely pleased and grateful to our distinguished chairman, who has worked very hard on our behalf, Senator Leahy, and the ranking member, Senator Specter. Both Senators have worked hard to bring these nominees forward. These are three very distinguished people from Michigan with tremendous credentials for the bench. They will serve ably, and I am proud to support them. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Kansas. Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to vote against Judge Neff going onto the bench for a lifetime appointment. I have met directly with her. I have been present for two hearings where she has spoken on the controversial issue of same-sex marriage, which we all agree should be decided by legislative bodies and by the people, not by the courts. She has an activist view on this issue. She participated in a ceremony herself. Then, when asked about her view toward same-sex unions, she said she considers it a continuing legal controversy. Her words: I really don't have an understanding of it, concerning the Michigan law. In Michigan, the State has defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, both by the legislature and the people. She says it is not entirely settled. Here is an activist on a core issue, a difficult issue, one I think we all believe should be decided by legislative bodies and not by the courts. She would be one who would have a tendency to rule from the bench. I urge my colleagues to vote against Judge Neff. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Vermont. Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Judge Neff was voted out of the committee with strong bipartisan support and was on the agenda to be confirmed under Republican control of the Senate last year when we had the snag on judges. She has my strong support and the support of the committee. I urge that she be confirmed. If nobody else is seeking recognition, I yield back the remainder of my time. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of Janet T. Neff, of Michigan, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Michigan? The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk called the roll. Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Dorgan), the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Arkansas (Mrs. Lincoln), and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Obama) are necessarily absent. Mr. LOTT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator [[Page 18112]] from Colorado (Mr. Allard), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Ensign), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Thune), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich). The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? The result was announced--yeas 83, nays 4, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 240 Ex.] YEAS--83 Akaka Alexander Barrasso Baucus Bayh Bennett Biden Bingaman Bond Boxer Brown Byrd Cantwell Cardin Carper Casey Clinton Coburn Cochran Coleman Collins Conrad Corker Cornyn Craig Crapo DeMint Dodd Dole Domenici Durbin Enzi Feingold Feinstein Graham Grassley Gregg Hagel Harkin Hatch Hutchison Inhofe Isakson Kennedy Kerry Klobuchar Kohl Landrieu Lautenberg Leahy Levin Lieberman Lott Lugar McCaskill McConnell Menendez Mikulski Murkowski Murray Nelson (FL) Nelson (NE) Pryor Reed Reid Roberts Rockefeller Salazar Sanders Schumer Sessions Shelby Smith Snowe Specter Stabenow Stevens Sununu Tester Warner Webb Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--4 Brownback Bunning Kyl Martinez NOT VOTING--13 Allard Burr Chambliss Dorgan Ensign Inouye Johnson Lincoln McCain Obama Thune Vitter Voinovich The nomination was confirmed. ____________________