[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5855-5856]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION
NOMINATION OF JOHN ALFRED JARVEY TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR 
                     THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF IOWA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, who is the first nominee?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of John Alfred 
Jarvey, of Iowa, to be United States District Judge for the Southern 
District of Iowa.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. Presdient, today we consider the nomination of John A. 
Jarvey, who has been nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court 
for the Southern District of Iowa. In his 18 years as a U.S. Magistrate 
Judge in the Northern District of Iowa, Judge Jarvey has built upon his 
reputation as is a well-respected attorney and former federal 
prosecutor and earned the bipartisan support of both home State 
Senators. I know Senator Grassley, who has been a strong advocate for 
Judge Jarvey on the committee, will welcome his confirmation.
  A native of Minneapolis, MN, Judge Jarvey received his B.S. in 
accounting

[[Page 5856]]

from the University of Akron in 1978 and his J.D. from Drake University 
in 1981 before clerking for Judge Donald E. O'Brien in the Northern 
District of Iowa. After his clerkship, Judge Jarvey began his career as 
a trial attorney in the criminal division of the Justice Department 
from 1983 to 1987, working in the narcotic and dangerous drug Section 
before his appointment as a magistrate judge for the Northern District 
of Iowa in 1987. He is now the chief magistrate judge of that district. 
Since 1993, Judge Jarvey has also been trial advocacy instructor at 
Iowa Law School since 1993.
  With his confirmation today, the Senate will have confirmed nine 
judicial nominations for lifetime appointments this year. That is more 
than half the total of confirmations for the entire 1996 session and we 
are still in February of this year. Of course, it was the Republican 
Senate majority that refused to proceed with qualified nominees and 
slowed consideration of President Clinton's nominations.
  Indeed, one of the casualties of their pocket filibusters was an 
outstanding nominee from Iowa. Bonnie Campbell had served as attorney 
general for the State of Iowa and as the head of the Violence Against 
Women Office at the Department of Justice. Despite her qualifications 
and without any explanation, the Republican leadership in the Senate 
stalled her nomination for many months and then killed it. Hers was one 
of the more than 60 judicial nominations of President Clinton that 
Republicans pocket filibustered.
  President Bush's nominations from Iowa have fared better in a 
Democratic-controlled Senate than President Clinton's did under 
Republican control. Judge Jarvey will be the third Iowa District Court 
judge confirmed while I have been chairman of the Judicial Committee. 
We also confirmed an 8th Circuit nominee from Iowa, Michael Melloy, 
when I was last Chairman.
  I have long urged the President to fill vacancies with consensus 
nominees. After Judge Jarvey's confirmation, according to the 
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts there will still be some 51 
judicial vacancies, 25 of which have been deemed to be judicial 
emergencies. The President has sent the Senate nominations for only 22 
of those seats, and has yet to send us nominees for 17 of the judicial 
emergency vacancies. That means two-thirds of the judicial emergency 
vacancies are without a nominee from this President.
  I congratulate Judge Jarvey, his wife, and his three children on his 
confirmation today.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support Judge 
John Jarvey, who has been nominated to serve as a U.S. district judge 
for the Southern District of Iowa. The Judiciary Committee unanimously 
approved Judge Jarvey some time ago, and I am glad that now we are 
moving expeditiously on his nomination.
  I would like to give my colleagues a little background on this 
stellar nominee. Judge Jarvey comes from Cedar Rapids, IA. Since 1987, 
he has been the chief U.S. magistrate judge for the U.S. district 
court, Northern District of Iowa. He also has been a trial advocacy 
instructor at the University of Iowa Law School since 1993.
  I received many letters from the Iowa legal community praising Judge 
Jarvey's judicial temperament, courteousness to litigants, and respect 
for and commitment to our judicial system. He has been praised for his 
judicial ethics and abilities as an administrator. Many letters 
commented on Judge Jarvey's intelligence, command of the law and rules 
of evidence, and his fairness.
  Judge Jarvey has been given a unanimous rating of ``well qualified'' 
by the ABA. I am confident that this man possesses the skill, 
integrity, commitment, intellect, and temperament that we expect of all 
good judges. So I urge my colleagues to vote in support of Judge 
Jarvey's nomination.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I know the nominee has been voted on 
unanimously by the Judiciary Committee and has the support of both 
Senators from Iowa. I support the nominee. I ask for the yeas and nays 
on that nomination.
  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 John Alfred Jarvey, of Iowa, to be U.S. District Judge for the 
Southern District of Iowa?
  The yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Cardin), 
the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Dodd), and the Senator from South 
Dakota (Mr. Johnson) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. LOTT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 95, nays 0, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 67 Ex.]

                                YEAS--95

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brown
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Tester
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Cardin
     Dodd
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     McCain
  The nomination was confirmed.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I understand we have a second nomination 
now.

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