[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2964-2966]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 439, the 
nomination of Mark Filip; that the nomination be confirmed, and the 
motion to reconsider be

[[Page 2965]]

laid upon the table; that any statements relating to the nomination be 
printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of 
the Senate's action, and the Senate resume legislative session.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The nomination considered and confirmed is as follows:


                         DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

       Mark R. Filip, of Illinois, to be Deputy Attorney General.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, this is Mukasey's chief deputy. We have been 
trying to get this nomination cleared for quite a long time.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today we continue the process of rebuilding 
the integrity and independence of the Justice Department by confirming 
the nomination of Mark R. Filip to be the new Deputy Attorney General, 
the number two position at the Department of Justice, who acts as the 
Attorney General in the absence of the Attorney General.
  Regrettably, this important nomination has been stalled for over a 
month due to the bad faith of the Bush-Cheney administration in failing 
to process Democratic recommendations to independent boards and 
commissions, and Senate Republicans' rejection of up-or-down votes on 
nominations to the Federal Election Commission.
  I commend the majority leader for his efforts to resolve this 
impasse. I also thank him for agreeing with me to allow the Filip 
nomination to proceed at this time. It is a demonstration of good faith 
on his part and I thank him. I strongly support the majority leader in 
his efforts to make progress by calling up Judge Filip's nomination 
today.
  A little more than a year ago, the Judiciary Committee began its 
oversight efforts for the 110th Congress. Over the next 9 months, our 
efforts revealed a Department of Justice gone awry. The leadership 
crisis came more and more into view as Senator Specter and I led a 
bipartisan group of concerned Senators to consider the U.S. attorney 
firing scandal, a confrontation over the legality of the 
administration's warrantless wiretapping program, the untoward 
political influence of the White House at the Department of Justice, 
and the secret legal memos excusing all manner of excess.
  This crisis of leadership has taken a heavy toll on the tradition of 
independence that has long guided the Justice Department and provided 
it with safe harbor from political interference. It shook the 
confidence of the American people. Through bipartisan efforts among 
those from both sides of the aisle who care about Federal law 
enforcement and the Department of Justice, we joined together to press 
for accountability that resulted in a change in leadership at the 
Department, with the resignations of the Attorney General and many 
high-ranking Department officials--including then-Deputy Attorney 
General Paul McNulty, whose successor we consider today.
  The tired, partisan accusations the President engaged in at the White 
House recently, in which he used Republican Senators and nominees as 
political props, are belied by the facts. They are about as accurate as 
when President Bush ascribed Attorney General Gonzales' resignation to 
supposed ``unfair treatment'' and suggested ``his good name'' was 
``dragged through the mud for political reasons.'' The U.S. attorney 
firing scandal was of the administration's own making. It decimated 
morale at the Department of Justice. A good way to help restore the 
Justice Department would be for this administration to acknowledge its 
wrongdoing.
  We need a new Deputy Attorney General. We need someone who 
understands that the responsibilities and duties of that office are not 
to act as a validator for the administration, or as the chief defense 
lawyer for the White House. We are reminded by the examples of Elliot 
Richardson and William Ruckelshaus from the Watergate era--and more 
recently the examples of James Comey, Jack Goldsmith, and Alberto 
Mora--that law enforcement officials must enforce the law without fear 
or favor to their benefactors at the White House. We have now seen what 
happens when the rule of law plays second fiddle to a President's 
agenda and the partisan desires of political operatives.
  The truth is that it was the President who deferred the critical work 
of restoring the Department's independence and credibility by delaying 
this nomination for half a year. This administration knew from at least 
May 14, 2007, when Mr. McNulty announced that he was resigning, and 
should have known for weeks before, that there was to be a vacancy in 
the important position of Deputy Attorney General. Yet even after the 
former Deputy announced his resignation and proceeded to resign months 
later, the administration failed to work with the Senate to fill this 
vital position.
  The President did not nominate Judge Filip until last December. I 
announced that the Judiciary Committee would hold a hearing less than 2 
weeks later, before Congress adjourned for the year, immediately upon 
receiving the necessary background materials from the White House. The 
committee moved as expeditiously as possible and we reported out Judge 
Filip's nomination at our first executive business meeting of the 2008 
session.
  What is being ignored by the President and Senate Republicans as they 
play to a vocal segment of their Republican base is that we have worked 
hard to make progress and restore the leadership of the Department of 
Justice. In the last few months, we have confirmed a new Attorney 
General, and held hearings for the number two and number three 
positions at the Department of Justice, as well as for several other 
high-ranking Justice Department spots.
  It is vital that we ensure that we have a functioning, independent 
Justice Department. A month ago, the Judiciary Committee held our first 
oversight hearing of the new session and the first with new Attorney 
General Michael Mukasey. We will hold another oversight hearing this 
week with FBI Director Mueller. These are more steps forward in our 
efforts to lift the veil of White House secrecy, restore checks and 
balances to our Government, and begin to repair the damage this 
administration inflicted on the Department, our Constitution, and 
fundamental American values.
  We continue to press for accountability even as we learn startling 
new revelations about the extent to which some will go to avoid 
accountability, undermine oversight, and stonewall the truth. We find 
shifting answers on issues including the admission that the CIA used 
waterboarding on detainees in reliance on the advice of the Department 
of Justice; the destruction of White House e-mails required by law to 
be preserved; and the CIA's destruction of videotapes of detainee 
interrogations not shared with the 9/11 Commission, Congress or the 
courts. The only constant is the demand for immunity and 
unaccountability among those in the administration. This White House 
continues to stonewall the legitimate needs for information articulated 
by the Judiciary Committee and others in the Congress, and 
contemptuously to refuse to appear when summoned by congressional 
subpoena.
  In spite of the administration's lack of cooperation, the Senate is 
moving forward with the confirmation of Judge Filip today. In spite of 
the partisan, political display at the White House last month, staged 
while a convention of right-wing activists were in town, we are 
proceeding today.
  With Judge Filip's confirmation, we will have confirmed 23 executive 
nominations, including the confirmations of nine U.S. attorneys, four 
U.S. marshals, and the top two positions at the Justice Department so 
far this Congress.
  We could be in a position to make even more progress if the 
Republican members of the Judiciary Committee would work with us in 
considering the nominations of this Republican President. We have had 
the nominations of Kevin O'Connor to be Associate Attorney General, the 
number three position at the Department, and Gregory G. Katsas, to be 
Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division, on our agenda since 
the middle of February. Three weeks ago, I placed the O'Connor and

[[Page 2966]]

Katsas nominations on the committee's agenda but Republican members of 
our committee did not show up to make a quorum at that meeting or at 
our meeting last week. I adjourned both our February 14 and February 28 
meetings for lack of a quorum. At the first meeting, only one 
Republican Senator was present. At the latter, the ranking member chose 
to leave. I hope we will be able to act on those nominations this week.
  Of course, we could have made even more progress had the White House 
sent us timely nominations to fill the remaining executive branch 
vacancies with nominees who will restore the independence of Federal 
law enforcement. There are now 19 districts across the country with 
acting or interim U.S. attorneys instead of Senate-confirmed, 
presidentially appointed U.S. attorneys, and for which the 
administration has still failed to send the Senate a nomination. For 
more than a year I have been talking publicly about the need to name 
U.S. attorneys to fill these vacancies to no avail and urging the 
President to work with the Senate.
  I was disappointed but not surprised to see the administration return 
to tired political attacks. What better time than right now, when the 
economy is slipping farther off the tracks, when the President's budget 
shows record annual triple-digit deficits, when al-Qaida is stronger 
and more virulent than ever, according to General Hayden and Director 
McConnell, and with Osama bin Laden still at large, when gas prices and 
unemployment are rising, and a mortgage crisis grips many parts of the 
country. I wish the President would put aside his partisan playbook and 
work with us.
  I trust that Mark Filip understands that the duty of the Deputy 
Attorney General is to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law not 
to work to circumvent it. Both the President and the Nation are best 
served by a Justice Department that provides sound advice and takes 
responsible action, without regard to political considerations--not one 
that develops legalistic loopholes to serve the ends of a particular 
administration.
  I congratulate Judge Filip and his family on his confirmation.

                          ____________________