[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15630-15633]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

     NOMINATION OF CATHY SEIBEL TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

                                 ______
                                 

   NOMINATION OF GLENN T. SUDDABY TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: 
Calendar Nos. 689 and 690, and that the Senate proceed to vote on 
confirmation of the nominations; that upon confirmation of the 
nominations, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc, 
the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, with no 
further motions in order, that any statements relating to the 
nominations be printed in the Record, and that the Senate then resume 
legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today the Senate is poised to confirm two 
more nominations for lifetime appointments to the Federal bench: Cathy 
Seibel for the Southern District of New York and Glenn T. Suddaby for 
the Northern District of New York. These nominees each have the support 
of the New York Senators, who worked with the White House to identify a 
slate of consensus nominees. I thank both Senator Schumer and Senator 
Clinton for their work in connection with these nominees.
  When these nominees are confirmed, that will bring the number of 
judicial nominees confirmed by the Senate during the slightly more than 
three years I have served as the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee to 
158. Coincidentally, the number of President Bush's judicial nominees 
confirmed by the Senate during the almost four and one-half years of 
Republican control totaled 158.
  I have always said that we would treat this President's nominees more 
fairly than Republicans treated President Clinton's. And we have. 
Indeed, we have matched the confirmation record that Republicans 
achieved for a President from their own party. We have not pocket 
filibustered more than 60 of this President's nominees. We are not 
going to return 17 circuit court nominees without action to this 
President as the Republican-led Senate did to President Clinton. We 
have not doubled the judicial vacancies and forced them above 100 
nationwide, nor have we doubled the number of circuit court vacancies. 
To the contrary, we have cut judicial vacancies by more than half, and 
reduced circuit court vacancies by more than two-thirds from a high 
point of 32, to a low of just nine throughout all 13 Federal circuits.
  The 100 nominations we confirmed in only 17 months in 2001 and 2002, 
while working with a most uncooperative White House, reduced the 
vacancies by 45 percent by the end of 2002. With 40 additional 
confirmations last year, and another 18 this year, the Senate under 
Democratic leadership has now confirmed 158 lifetime appointments to 
the Federal bench nominated by President Bush. Nearly half of the 
judicial nominees the Senate has confirmed while I have served as the 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee have filled vacancies classified by 
the Administrative Office of the Courts as judicial emergency 
vacancies. Eighteen of the 27 circuit court nominees confirmed while I 
have chaired the committee filled judicial emergency vacancies, 
including nine of the 10 circuit court nominees confirmed this 
Congress. This is another aspect of the problem created by Republicans 
that we have worked hard to improve. When President Bush took office 
there were 28 judicial emergency vacancies. Those have been reduced by 
more than half.
  In the 2 full years that preceded my returning as chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee in 2007, with a Republican chairman and a 
Republican Senate majority working to confirm the judicial nominees of 
a Republican President, 54 nominations were confirmed. After the two 
confirmations today, we will reach 58 judicial confirmations for this 
Congress. Truth be told, President Bush's judicial nominees have been 
confirmed faster by the Democratic majority than by the previous 
Republican majority of the Senate.
  Judicial vacancies have been reduced from 10 percent as we made the 
transition to the Bush administration to 4.5 percent today. I wish we 
could say the same about unemployment, the cost of gasoline, food 
prices, health care costs, about inflation and the national debt, but 
all those indicators have been moving in the wrong direction, as is 
consumer confidence and the percentage of Americans who see the country 
as on the wrong track.
  Republican critics ignore the progress we have made on judicial 
vacancies. They also ignore the crisis that they had created by not 
considering circuit nominees in 1996, 1997 and 1998. They ignore the 
fact that they refused to confirm a single circuit nominee during the 
entire 1996 session. They ignore the fact that they returned 17 circuit 
court nominees without action to the White House in 2000. They ignore 
the public criticism of Chief Justice Rehnquist to their actions during 
those years. They ignore the fact that they were responsible for more 
than doubling circuit court vacancies during their pocket filibusters 
of Clinton nominees or that we have reduced those circuit court 
vacancies by more than two thirds.

[[Page 15631]]

  In fact, as the Presidential elections in 2000 drew closer, and when 
the judicial vacancy rate stood at 7.2 percent, then-Judiciary 
Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch declared that ``There is and has been no 
judicial vacancy crisis,'' and that 7.2 percent was a ``rather low 
percentage of vacancies that shows the judiciary is not suffering from 
an overwhelming number of vacancies.'' As a result of Republican 
inaction, the vacancy rate continued to rise, reaching 10 percent when 
the Democrats took over the Senate majority in 2001.
  Democrats have reversed course. We have cut circuit court vacancies 
by more than two-thirds, from a high of 32. With the confirmation of 
two nominees today, the judicial vacancy rate will be just 4.5 percent.
  I have yet to hear praise from a single Republican for our work in 
lowering vacancies. I also have yet to hear in the Republican talking 
points any explanation for their actions during the 1996 congressional 
session, when the Republican Senate majority refused to allow the 
Senate to confirm even one circuit court judge. I have yet to hear 
explanations for why they did not proceed with the nominations of 
Bonnie Campbell, Allen Snyder and so many others.
  I hope the American people will not witness another week in which 
Senate Republicans attempt to make a partisan, election-year issue out 
of the confirmation of judicial nominations. This is the one area where 
the numbers have actually improved during the Bush presidency while the 
life of hardworking Americans has only gotten more difficult. The 
Treasury Secretary has been quite sobering about the financial 
difficulties still ahead. Inflation is now on the rise, jobs are being 
lost, gas prices have skyrocketed, food prices have soared, health care 
is unaffordable and yet Republicans want come to the floor to pick a 
partisan fight about the pace of judicial confirmations while the 
Senate proceeds to confirm two more judges.
  Americans have seen the unemployment rate rise to 5.5 percent and 
trillions of dollars in budget surplus have turned into trillions of 
dollars of debt. Last week General Motors announced layoffs. The annual 
budget deficit is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the dollar 
has lost half its value, and the costs of the Iraq war and interest on 
the national debt amounts to $1.5 billion a day.
  When President Bush took office, the price of gas was $1.42 a gallon. 
Today, it is over $4.00 a gallon. The housing crisis and mortgage 
crisis threatens the economy. The stock market dropped 2,000 points in 
the first six months of the year and went under 11,000.
  Hardworking Americans trying to do the best they can for their 
families are more concerned about critical issues they face in their 
lives each day. They are concerned about affording to heat their homes 
this winter. They are concerned about gas prices that have skyrocketed 
so high they do not know how they will afford to drive to work. They 
are concerned about the steepest decline in home values in two decades. 
More and more Americans are affected by rising unemployment, with job 
losses for the first six consecutive months of this year tallying over 
438,000. Americans are worried about soaring health care costs, rising 
health insurance costs, the rising costs of education and rising food 
prices. The partisan, election-year rhetoric over judicial nominations, 
at a time when judicial vacancies have been significantly reduced, is a 
reflection of misplaced priorities.
  Our progress today in confirming two more nominations for lifetime 
appointments shows that when the President works with home State 
Senators to identify consensus, well-qualified nominees, we can make 
progress, even this late in an election year. I congratulate the 
nominees and their families on their confirmations today.
  The Federal judiciary is the one arm of our Government that should 
never be political or politicized, regardless of who sits in the White 
House. I will continue in this Congress, and with a new President in 
the next Congress, to work with Senators from both sides of the aisle 
to ensure that the Federal judiciary remains independent and able to 
provide justice to all Americans, without fear or favor.
  Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to consider a 
number of bipartisan measures. Several are important items on which 
Republicans had already delayed consideration since June. They include 
the bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act, a bipartisan OPEN FOIA bill and the bipartisan William 
Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. In 
addition, we had before us the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration 
Act, the Fugitive Information Networked Database Act, the 
Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act and the National Guard and 
Reservists Debt Relief Act.
  I had hoped that last week we would be able to report these measures. 
A few words about one of them--the legislation to reauthorize the 
William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act. This bill would 
strengthen our efforts to stop the abhorrent practice of human 
trafficking around the world. Our bill enhances protections for victims 
of these terrible crimes. Human trafficking is a modern-day form of 
slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded or coerced into 
sexual or labor exploitation. These practices continue to victimize 
hundreds of thousands around the world, mostly women and children, and 
we must do all that we can to be more effective in confronting this 
continuing problem. I thank Senator Biden for his leadership. 
Unfortunately, Republican partisan antics have gotten in the way of 
progress on this front and delayed the Judiciary Committee and the 
Senate from acting on this measure.
  Rather than meet and work on the human trafficking bill and the 
others, a number of the Republican Senators who serve on the Judiciary 
Committee came to the Senate floor while Republicans objected to the 
committee meeting. That was too bad. It set back our legislative 
agenda.
  Republicans previously boycotted business meetings for the month of 
February when we were trying to report judicial nominations. That only 
slowed our progress. Then, when we tried to expedite consideration of 
two circuit court nominations in May, they objected. Those judicial 
nominations were finally confirmed late in June.
  I look forward to a time when Senators from the other side of the 
aisle return to work with us on the important legislative business of 
the Judiciary Committee and the Senate. It would be refreshing if they 
recognized the progress we have made on filling judicial vacancies.
  When they do, when they show cooperation, when we are able to make 
progress on our legislative agenda, at that point I will be able to 
turn my attention from concentrating on that legislative agenda and 
consider, along with the majority leader, whether there are additional 
judicial nominees we might be able to consider and confirm this year. 
It will be difficult to do so, especially in connection with nominees 
recently received for whom we do not have an ABA peer review rating at 
this time.
  Let me give you some flavor of how petty the obstructionism from 
Republicans has become. I introduced at the request of the Chief 
Justice a bill to extend authorization for the Supreme Court police to 
remain in operation, S. 3296. I have been trying to clear this measure 
for passage since June 19. Although our Ranking Republican on the 
Committee cosponsored, he has not been able to clear it on his side of 
the aisle.
  I have been seeking for months to find a way to extend the EB-5 
investor visa pilot program that brings benefits not only to Vermont 
but to Pennsylvania and Iowa, and elsewhere. Authority for this 
worthwhile program that leads to investments here in the United States 
expires in September. My efforts to clear H.R. 5569, a bill to extend 
the program for 5 years, have been stymied by Republicans who insist on 
using this bill as a vehicle for other immigration-related matters and 
have ensnarled it in a series of competing concerns.

[[Page 15632]]

  More broadly, the Judiciary Committee has worked throughout this 
Congress to advance the priorities of Americans. We have reported 
legislation to support local law enforcement to make our cities and 
towns safe from crime that has now gone back up after consistent 
declines in the 1990s, like the COPS Improvements Act, S. 368, and my 
bill to extend the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act, S. 2511. We 
have reported legislation to combat fraud and corruption, like the War 
Profiteering Prevention Act, S. 119, and the Public Corruption 
Prosecution Improvements Act, S. 1946. We have reported legislation to 
protect the civil rights and voting rights of Americans, like the 
Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, S. 535, and Senator 
Obama's Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 
2007, S. 453. We have reported legislation to protect Americans' data 
privacy like my Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, S. 495. We have 
reported measures to provide the Federal judiciary with increased 
resources both in terms of salary restoration and additional 
judgeships, S. 1638 and S. 2774. We have reported intellectual property 
measures like the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act, S. 2913. And, of 
course, we have reported the bill to confront the OPEC cartel, NOPEC, 
S. 879. I look forward to a time when Republicans work with us on these 
matters instead of obstructing us at every turn.
  Legislation with broad bipartisan support that I have managed to move 
through the Judiciary Committee has then been stalled on the Senate 
floor by the obstruction of a few Republicans. Of the bills that have 
been reported from the Judiciary Committee this Congress, Republicans 
have blocked legislation to support runaway and homeless young people, 
S. 2982; to help law enforcement cope with mentally ill offenders, S. 
2304; to support the investigation and prosecution of civil rights era 
murders left unsolved for too long, S. 535; and to protect our children 
from the scourges of drugs, child pornography, and child exploitation, 
such as S. 1210, S. 1738 and S. 2344. I joined the Majority Leader in 
introducing a measure yesterday that combines some of these Committee-
approved and House-passed bipartisan measures into one bill, S. 3297. 
These should have been consent items and already been considered and 
passed by the Senate.
  The list goes on. I say, again, Republican obstructionists have 
blocked legislation to ensure that law enforcement officers can obtain 
bulletproof vests, to give much needed resources to State and local law 
enforcement, to break the grip of the OPEC cartel on oil prices, to 
prohibit war profiteering, to train prosecutors, and to teach children 
to use the internet safely, just to reiterate a few examples. And that 
is just legislation reported by the Judiciary Committee. Every 
Committee in the Senate has seen simple legislation intended to help 
the American people in difficult times stymied by Republican 
obstruction.
  Republicans have become masters of true obstruction, boycotting 
business meetings of the Judiciary Committee and cutting short 
important hearings, including a hearing at which two courageous women 
from Pennsylvania were testifying about severe injuries they suffered 
to help us understand the plight of hardworking Americans whose 
legitimate grievances have been rejected by a pro-business Supreme 
Court. When Republicans obstructed a meeting last week where we could 
have made progress on reducing youth violence, protecting women and 
children from human trafficking, and helping those who serve our 
country to cope with unmanageable debt, that was just the latest 
example of a pattern that has become all too familiar.
  Sadly, we have seen Republican obstructionism since the beginning of 
this Congress, with Republicans using filibuster after filibuster to 
thwart the will of the majority of the Senate from doing the business 
of the American people. Republican filibusters prevented Senate 
majorities from passing the climate change bill; the Employee Free 
Choice Act; the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; the DC Voting Rights Act; 
the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 
2007; the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008; the Medicare 
Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008; and the Consumer-
First Energy Act.
  These are critical pieces of legislation to address urgent priorities 
like the energy crisis, the environment, voting rights, health care, 
and fair wages for working men and women. All of them had the support 
of the majority of the Senate. And all were blocked by a minority of 
Republican Senators bent on preventing us from making progress. 
Republicans have now filibustered more than 80 pieces of legislation in 
this Congress. We can only imagine what we could have accomplished in 
this Congress with cooperation rather than obstruction.
  This long list of priorities unaddressed because of the Republicans 
in Congress would be even longer if we were to include the many 
important bills President Bush has vetoed since the beginning of this 
Congress. This list includes legislation to fund stem cell research to 
fight debilitating and deadly diseases, to extend and expand the 
successful State Children's Health Insurance Program that would have 
provided health insurance to more of the millions of American children 
without it, to set a timetable for bringing American troops home from 
the disastrous war in Iraq, and to ban waterboarding and help restore 
America as a beacon for the rule of law.
  The American people are going through increasingly difficult times, 
and their Congress should be working to make their lives better. Time 
is running short in this Congress. It is past time for Republicans to 
stop their foot stomping and work with us to get things done. That is 
what I have been trying to do throughout this Congress. I hope, despite 
their recent antics, that Republicans will reconsider and join with me 
to make progress on legislative matters of concern to the American 
people.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise in support of two nominees to be 
district judges in the Southern and Northern Districts of New York.
  I was pleased last week that the Senate voted unanimously to confirm 
two other excellent New York nominees, Kiyo Matsumoto and Paul 
Gardephe.
  Like last week's candidates, both of the nominees before us today--
Cathy Seibel and Glenn Suddaby--were rated unanimously well qualified 
by the American Bar Association, and both were unanimously recommended 
out of the Judiciary Committee.
  I am particularly pleased to support Ms. Seibel to be a judge in the 
Southern District of New York because I personally recommended her to 
the President.
  The Judges in her district respect her, the defense bar knows her to 
be fair and reasonable. and I myself found her to be thoughtful, 
modest, and blessed with a perfect judicial temperament.
  These are the qualities that compelled me to recommend her to the 
bench.
  Ms. Seibel has been a Federal prosecutor for 21 years and has long 
ties to the Southern District of New York where she has served as both 
the deputy U.S. attorney and the first assistant.
  During her time as a prosecutor, she has earned a reputation for 
fairness and effectiveness.
  Indeed, she is described as the very model of grace under pressure.
  And while at the Southern District, she has trained several 
generations of young prosecutors, who also sing her praises.
  She has prosecuted a number of high-profile tax fraud cases, as well 
as the very first case where the Violence Against Women Act was used 
for a murder charge--a subject obviously very close to my heart since I 
was the chief author of the Violence Against Women Act when I was in 
the House.
  She is the recipient of numerous well-deserved honors, including the 
prestigious Stimson Medal for federal prosecutors in New York.
  Despite the demands on her time as a prosecutor, Ms. Seibel has also 
found

[[Page 15633]]

time to teach a course on trial practice at Columbia Law School, and 
previously has taught courses at Fordham.
  Ms. Seibel graduated magna cum laude from Princeton and received her 
J.D. cum laude from Fordham University, where she was editor-in-chief 
of the Fordham Law Review. Ms. Seibel also clerked for Judge Joseph 
McLaughlin in the Eastern District after graduation.
  Additionally, Ms. Seibel's confirmation will help to rectify the 
serious underrepresentation of women in our Federal judiciary.
  In the Southern District today, only a paltry 25 percent of district 
court judges--11 of 44--are women. I believe that our Federal bench 
should reflect the same broad diversity of experience as America writ 
large.
  Glass ceilings are abhorrent, but they especially have no place in 
our Federal courthouses, where every citizen is held as equal before 
the law.
  Ms. Seibel's confirmation will be an important step to remedying an 
unfortunate gender gap in one of the country's most important courts.
  Finally I would like to say a few words in favor of Mr. Glenn 
Suddaby, a nominee for the Northern District of New York.
  Mr. Suddaby has been a U.S. attorney since 2002, but his ties to the 
Northern District go back much further than that. He received his B.A. 
from State University of New York at Plattsburgh, then received his law 
degree from Syracuse University. Mr. Suddaby then began his long career 
as a prosecutor in Onondaga County before joining the U.S. attorney's 
office.
  Between college and law school, Mr. Suddaby even spent time as a 
legislative aide in the New York State Assembly, so he also has 
experience shaping the law from inside the halls of a legislature. I 
think its a good idea to have more judges with a little experience 
writing the law, and not only enforcing it and interpreting it.
  Mr. Suddaby has worked especially hard to target corruption in his 
district, and has demonstrated his commitment to placing the rule of 
law ahead of ideology.
  Both of these nominees will make excellent judges who will be 
impartial and thoughtful guardians of our legal tradition. I urge my 
colleagues to support them.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will state the nomination.
  The legislative read the nomination of Cathy Seibel, of New York, to 
be United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Cathy Seibel, of New York, to be United 
States District Judge for the Southern District of New York?
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will state the nomination.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Glenn T. Suddaby, of New 
York, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of 
New York.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Glenn T. Suddaby, of New York, to be 
United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York?
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motions to reconsider are laid upon the 
table.

                          ____________________