[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6832]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY'S 13,000TH VOTE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to honor Senator Patrick Leahy on 
the occasion of his 13,000th vote.
  I have had the privilege of serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee 
under Senator Leahy's leadership for more than 10 years. The Judiciary 
Committee is one of the original standing committees of the U.S. Senate 
and its role is unique. It is the Judiciary Committee's special charge 
to ensure that we remain faithful to our Founders' vision of America as 
a nation of laws.
  As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy takes this 
responsibility very seriously and he has continually demonstrated his 
fidelity to the rule of law. Chairman Leahy has repeatedly risen in 
defense of our fundamental constitutional rights, even when it is not 
politically popular.
  He particularly distinguished himself in the aftermath of the 9/11 
terrorist attacks. At a time when some were calling for us to sacrifice 
our rights in the fight against terrorism, Pat Leahy said that we could 
be both safe and free.
  He worked to include important civil liberties protections in the 
PATRIOT Act. He led the opposition to controversial Bush administration 
policies relating to torture, indefinite detention, and the warrantless 
surveillance of innocent American citizens. He was one of the first 
Members of Congress to speak out against the Guantanamo Bay detention 
center. Chairman Leahy led the fight against the Military Commissions 
Act. He was particularly eloquent and persistent in defending the right 
to habeas corpus and he was vindicated when the Supreme Court held that 
the habeas-stripping provision of the Military Commissions Act is 
unconstitutional.
  Chairman Leahy has also been a giant in the Senate when it comes to 
judicial nominations. He has fought to preserve the integrity and 
independence of our Federal judiciary throughout his career and long 
tenure on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  Despite the highly charged atmosphere that has beset the judicial 
nominations process in recent years, Chairman Leahy handled judicial 
nominations fairly and expeditiously during his chairmanship of the 
Senate Judiciary Committee under President George W. Bush. In the 
approximately 3 years in which he chaired the Senate Judiciary 
Committee under President Bush, 168 of the President's judicial 
nominees were confirmed. By comparison, during the 4-year period under 
President Bush when Republicans had a majority in the Senate and 
chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, only 158 judicial nominees were 
confirmed.
  Chairman Leahy also led the fight to enhance the security of Federal 
judges and courthouses in the wake of several tragic incidents of 
violence our Nation witnessed in recent years. This record is a tribute 
to Chairman Leahy's deep respect for the Federal bench and his 
commitment to bipartisanship in the advice and consent process.
  Senator Leahy has fought for human rights at home and abroad. As the 
lead sponsor of the Innocence Protection Act, he has worked to ensure 
that innocent people are not subject to the death penalty. He has been 
the foremost champion in Congress in the campaign against antipersonnel 
landmines, authoring the first legislation by any government to ban the 
export of landmines.
  I want to pay tribute particularly to Chairman Leahy for creating the 
Human Rights and the Law subcommittee in January 2007 and for giving me 
the opportunity to chair this subcommittee during the 110th Congress. I 
was proud to work with Senator Leahy in the 110th Congress to enact the 
Genocide Accountability Act, which makes it a crime to commit genocide 
anywhere in the world; the Child Soldiers Accountability Act, which 
makes it a crime and violation of immigration law to recruit or use 
child soldiers anywhere in the world; and the Trafficking in Persons 
Accountability Act, which makes it a crime to engage in human 
trafficking anywhere in the world.
  Mr. President, America is fortunate to have Senator Patrick Leahy's 
leadership at this challenging moment in our history. I look forward to 
working with him as we strive to restore the rule of law at home and to 
reclaim America's role as a champion for human rights around the world.

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