[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16664-16667]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

 NOMINATION OF JOHN E. DOWDELL TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR 
                   THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA

                                 ______
                                 

 NOMINATION OF JESUS G. BERNAL TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR 
                   THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, 
which the clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read the nominations of John E. Dowdell, of Oklahoma, 
to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of 
Oklahoma, and Jesus G. Bernal, of California, to be United States 
District Judge for the Central District of California.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be 30 minutes of debate equally 
divided in the usual form.
  The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I want to begin by recognizing a 
significant achievement by the senior Senator from Iowa, our ranking 
Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Today Senator Grassley has 
served for 31 years, 11 months, and 6 days as a member of our 
Committee. His tenure now exceeds that of our friend, former chairman, 
longtime member, and current Vice President, Joe Biden. Senator 
Grassley is now the sixth longest-serving member in the history of the 
Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Grassley and I know how the 
Committee should operate in its best traditions. I will continue to 
work with him to achieve all we can for the American people.
  Today, the Senate will finally be allowed to vote on the nominations 
of Jesus Bernal to fill a judicial emergency vacancy on the U.S. 
District Court for the Central District of California and John Dowdell 
to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District 
of Oklahoma. Both of these nominees were voted out of the Judiciary 
Committee by voice vote before the August recess and should have been 
confirmed months ago. These confirmations today will demonstrate that 
there was no good reason for the delay--just more partisan delay for 
delay's sake. This unnecessary obstruction is particularly egregious in 
connection with Jesus Bernal's nomination because it perpetuated a 
judicial emergency vacancy since the middle of July for no good reason 
and to the detriment of the people of Los Angeles and the Central 
District of California.
  Also disconcerting is the Senate Republicans' continuing filibuster 
against another Oklahoma nominee. Although he had had the support of 
his two Republican home State Senators, Senate Republicans filibustered 
in July the nomination of Robert Bacharach of Oklahoma to a judgeship 
on the Tenth Circuit. Senate Republicans continue to object to voting 
on this nomination and are apparently intent on stopping his 
confirmation for the remainder of the year. This, despite the 
reassuring comments made by Republican Senators when they joined the 
filibuster in September and excused their participation by saying that 
after the election he would receive Senate action. With the American 
people's reelection of President Obama there is no good purpose to be 
served by this further delay. But Robert Bacharach and nearly a dozen 
judicial nominees, who could be confirmed and who would fill four 
circuit court vacancies and five additional judicial emergency 
vacancies, are being forced to wait until next year--or perhaps 
forever--by the Senate Republican leadership. Among those nominations 
is that of William Orrick III to fill another judicial emergency 
vacancy in the Northern District of California and that of Brian Davis 
to fill a judicial emergency vacancy in the Middle District of Florida.
  A perceptive and long-time observer of these matters is Professor 
Carl Tobias. I ask that a copy of his recent article entitled ``Obama, 
Senate Must Fill Judicial Vacancies'' from The Miami Herald be included 
in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. LEAHY. He recently wrote how these vacancies on our Federal trial 
courts ``erode speedy, economical and fair case resolution.'' He 
correctly points out that this President, unlike his predecessor, 
``assiduously'' consults with home State Senators from both parties. 
Senate Republicans nonetheless stall confirmations virtually across the 
board. For example, they are filibustering the Bacharach nomination 
from Oklahoma and the Kayatta nomination from Maine, despite the 
support of Republican home state Senators.
  Professor Tobias observes that the judicial nominees of President 
Obama are ``noncontroversial . . . of balanced temperament, who are 
intelligent, ethical, industrious, independent and diverse vis a vis 
ethnicity, gender and ideology.'' None of these characteristics or 
their outstanding qualifications matter to Senate Republicans intent on 
obstruction. The explanations that Republicans offer for their 
unprecedented stalling of nominees with bipartisan support, indicate 
that Republicans are fixated on a warped sense of partisan payback. 
They recognize none of the distinctions with the circumstances in 2004 
when President Bush was seeking to pack the Federal courts with 
conservative activist ideologues and Senate Republicans ran roughshod 
over Senate practices and traditions. They ignore the history since 
2004, the resolution of the impasse by recognition of a standard 
limiting filibusters only to situations of ``exceptional 
circumstances,'' or the marked difference in the role they have been 
accorded by President Obama and me in connection with his judicial 
nominations from their home States.
  After this vote, the Senate remains backlogged with 18 judicial 
nominations reported by the Judiciary Committee, including 13 
nominations from before the August recess. They should be confirmed 
before the Senate adjourns for the year. If the Senate were allowed to 
act in the best interests of the American people, it would vote to 
confirm these nominees and reduce the judicial vacancies that are 
plaguing our Federal courts and that delay justice for the American 
people. Sadly, it appears that Senate Republicans will persist in the 
bad practices they have followed since President Obama was elected and 
insist on stalling nearly a dozen judicial nominees who could and 
should be confirmed before the Senate adjourns this month.
  By this point in President Bush's first term we had reduced judicial 
vacancies to 28. In stark contrast, there are still close to 80 
judicial vacancies today. If the Senate were allowed to confirm the 20 
judicial nominations currently pending, we could take a significant 
step forward by filling more than one-quarter of current vacancies and 
could reduce vacancies around the country below 60 for the first time 
since President Obama took office. Even that would be twice as many 
vacancies as existed toward the end of President Bush's first term.
  That so many judicial nominations have been delayed by Senate 
Republicans into this lameduck session need not prevent the Senate from 
doing what is right for the American people. Those who contend that it 
would be ``unprecedented'' to confirm long-stalled nominations in this 
lameduck session are wrong. The fact is that from 1980 until this year, 
when a lameduck session followed a presidential election, every single 
judicial nominee reported with bipartisan Judiciary Committee support 
has been confirmed. That is the precedent that Senate Republicans are 
breaking. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, 
no consensus nominee reported prior to the August recess has ever been 
denied a vote--before now. That is something Senate Democrats have not 
done in any lameduck session, whether after a presidential or midterm 
election.
  Senate Democrats allowed votes on 20 of President George W. Bush's 
judicial nominees, including three circuit

[[Page 16665]]

court nominees, in the lameduck session after the elections in 2002. I 
remember I was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who moved 
forward with those votes, including one on a very controversial circuit 
court nominee. The Senate proceeded to confirm judicial nominees in 
lameduck sessions after the elections in 2004 and 2006. In 2006 that 
included confirming another circuit court nominee. We proceeded to 
confirm 19 judicial nominees in the lameduck session after the 
elections in 2010, including five circuit court nominees.
  That is our history and recent precedent. Those who contend that 
judicial confirmation votes during lameduck sessions do not take place 
are wrong. I have urged the Senate Republican leadership to reassess 
its damaging tactics, but apparently in vain. Their new precedent is 
bad for the Senate, the Federal courts and, most importantly, for the 
American people.
  Further, their partisan spin on the past does nothing to help fill 
longstanding vacancies on our Federal courts, which are in dire need of 
additional assistance. Arguments about past Senate practice do not help 
the American people obtain justice. There are no good reasons to hold 
up the judicial nominations currently being stalled on the Senate 
Executive Calendar. A wrongheaded desire for partisan payback for some 
imagined offense from years ago is no good reason. A continuing effort 
to gum up the workings of the Senate and to delay Senate action on 
additional judicial nominees next year is no good reason.
  It is past time for votes on the four circuit nominees and the other 
14 district court nominees reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
When we have consensus nominees before us who can fill judicial 
vacancies, especially judicial emergency vacancies, the Senate should 
be taking action on these nominations to help the American people. 
Doing so is consistent with Senate precedent, and it is right. Let us 
do our jobs so that all Americans can have access to justice.
  John Dowdell is nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the 
Northern District of Oklahoma. He is currently a shareholder and 
director at the Tulsa law firm of Norman Wohlgemuth Chandler & Dowdell, 
where he has worked for nearly 30 years. After law school he served as 
a law clerk to Judge William J. Holloway, Jr. on the United States 
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. His nomination was reported 
nearly unanimously by the Judiciary Committee last June.
  Jesus Bernal is nominated to fill a judicial emergency vacancy on the 
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Since 1996 
he has served as a Deputy Federal Public Defender and is currently the 
Directing Attorney in the Riverside Branch Office. After graduating 
from law school he served as a law clerk to Judge David V. Kenyon of 
the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. His 
nomination was reported by voice vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee 
last July.
  Today, we are finally being allowed to vote on two consensus nominees 
who were stalled for months for no good reason.

                               Exhibit 1

                 [From the Miami Herald, Dec. 10, 2012]

               Obama, Senate Must Fill Judicial Vacancies

                            (By Carl Tobias)

       Now that President Obama has been reelected and Democrats 
     have retained a Senate majority, he must swiftly nominate, 
     and the upper chamber expeditiously approve, judicial 
     nominees, especially for the four Florida vacancies, so that 
     the courts can deliver justice.
       On Thursday, senators confirmed 94-0 Circuit Judge Mark 
     Walker for the Northern District of Florida. However, the 
     Judiciary Committee delayed action on Circuit Judge Brian 
     Davis for the Middle District three times until the June 21 
     meeting when the panel reported Davis 10-7. The committee 
     also only held a September hearing for Magistrate Judge 
     Sherri Polster Chappell, whom President Barack Obama 
     nominated to the Middle District in June and finally approved 
     her on Thursday.
       Moreover, the bench experiences 64 vacancies in the 679 
     district judgeships. These openings erode speedy, economical 
     and fair case resolution.
       Observers criticized Obama for nominating too slowly in 
     2009, but he has since picked up the pace. The chief 
     executive assiduously consulted Republican and Democratic 
     senators from states where vacancies occurred before 
     nominations. He has suggested noncontroversial nominees of 
     balanced temperament, who are intelligent, ethical, 
     industrious, independent and diverse vis-a-vis ethnicity, 
     gender and ideology.
       Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who chairs the 
     Judiciary Committee, has rapidly set hearings and votes, 
     sending nominees to the floor where many have languished. For 
     instance, the Senate recessed September 22 without 
     considering 19 excellent nominees; most enjoyed strong 
     committee votes.
       Republicans should cooperate better. The major problem has 
     been the Senate floor. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the 
     Republican Minority Leader, has rarely agreed to ballots, 
     invoking unanimous consent, which allows one senator to halt 
     votes. Especially troubling has been Republican refusal to 
     vote on qualified consensus nominees, inaction that 
     contravenes Senate custom. When senators have cast ballots, 
     they overwhelmingly confirmed most nominees.
       The 64 district vacancies are crucial. The Middle and 
     Southern District each experience two. Obama has nominated 33 
     highly competent prospects nationwide. The President 
     nominated Judge Davis and Judge Walker during February and 
     Judge Chappell in June. Obama must quickly propose candidates 
     for the 31 openings without nominees. Senators approved Judge 
     Walker because he is well qualified. The chamber failed to 
     consider the other similarly qualified Florida nominee, Judge 
     Davis, before recessing in September but must vote on him in 
     the lame duck session that began November 13. The committee 
     reported Judge Davis in June 10-7 with Senator Lindsey 
     Graham, R-S.C., not voting. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, 
     voted against. He ``had a concern about some intemperate 
     language that dates back to 1995 in what otherwise appears to 
     be an unblemished record'' and would ``keep an open mind.''
       Judge Davis was held over thrice at the request of Senator 
     Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member, who appeared 
     concerned about Davis' answers in the May hearing and to 
     later written questions. On June 21, Grassley voiced concern 
     about Davis' perspectives respecting a few issues, 
     particularly implicating race, and voted No. Now that the 
     committee has reported Judge Chappell, the Senate must 
     quickly consider her, while the chamber should expeditiously 
     process Circuit Judge William Thomas, whom Obama nominated 
     for one Southern District vacancy November 14.
       The administration should keep closely conferring with 
     Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, who expressed 
     strong support for Walker, Davis, Chappell and Thomas, and 
     soon propose a fine nominee for the Southern District opening 
     created November 16 when Judge Patricia Seitz assumed senior 
     status. The Senate, for its part, must speedily process that 
     nominee.
       The 64 vacancies undermine the delivery of justice. 
     Accordingly, President Obama must swiftly nominate, and 
     senators promptly approve, numerous excellent judges now that 
     senators have reconvened for their lame duck session.

                       Nomination of John Dowdell

  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I rise to speak to the confirmation of 
John Dowdell of Tulsa, OK, to a seat on the District Court for the 
Northern District of Oklahoma.
  Mr. Dowdell is a native of Tulsa and a graduate of Bishop Kelly High 
School. Mr. Dowdell received his B.A. from Wake Forest University in 
1978 and his J.D. from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1981. 
Following law school, he served for two years as a law clerk to the 
Honorable William J. Holloway of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. He 
then joined the firm of Norman & Wohlgemuth as an associate. In 1987, 
he was promoted to partner and the firm became Norman Wohlgemuth 
Chandler & Dowdell. Mr. Dowdell's practice areas include complex 
litigation and appellate work. He has been involved with six cases 
before the U.S. Supreme Court and has litigated before the Tenth 
Circuit Court of Appeals on numerous occasions.
  In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Dowdell serves as an Adjunct 
Settlement Judge in the Northern District of Oklahoma. In this capacity 
he has conducted over 50 mediations on a pro bono basis. He has also 
performed extensive pro bono work for several criminal appellate cases 
and his alma mater, Bishop Kelley High School. Additionally, Mr. 
Dowdell is a member of the Editorial Board of the Oklahoma Bar 
Association, a former president of the Bishop Kelley High School Board 
of Directors, and was appointed by the mayor to serve on Tulsa's Public 
Facilities Board.

[[Page 16666]]

  Mr. Dowdell has received numerous honors for his legal practice, 
including being rated as one of Oklahoma's ``Super Lawyers'' from 2006 
through 2011 and being named a Top Commercial Litigation Lawyer by 
American Litigation Magazine. He also was the recipient of the 
Distinguished Service Award of the American Inns of Court in 1993 and 
the Jack R. Givens Award for Professionalism and Service in 1998. The 
Oklahoma Bar Association Board of Governors has endorsed Mr. Dowdell's 
nomination to this judicial position and passed a resolution praising 
his demeanor, intelligence, and legal skills.
  I firmly believe the rule of law is the foundation of our great 
Nation. By confirming judges of high character and integrity such as 
Mr. Dowdell, who are committed to the principles established by our 
Founders, we will ensure our Federal court system continues to dispense 
fair and predictable justice to all. I ask my colleagues to join me in 
supporting John Dowdell's confirmation to the District Court for the 
Northern District of Oklahoma.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I am very excited and rise in strong 
support of Jesus Bernal's nomination to be U.S. District Judge for the 
Central District of California. He is going to make an amazing judge.
  He is the oldest son of two humble factory workers, Gilberto and 
Martha, who aspired for their sons and daughters to attend college.
  As the daughter of a mom who never even graduated from high school 
because she had to go out and work to provide for her ailing dad, I can 
say that you know any parents who give up so much for their kids have 
the heart and you know their sons and daughters will have the heart and 
will make sure--whether they wind up here or teaching in a school or 
whatever their profession is, or being on the bench--they will work for 
justice for all.
  Gilberto and Martha would tell young Jesus and his siblings: ``You 
study, we work.'' Those are the kinds of parents he came from. Their 
aspirations were realized. All five of their children attended college, 
and today, I believe, Mr. Bernal will be confirmed as a federal 
district court judge. What a country we live in.
  When confirmed, Mr. Bernal will be the only Latino district court 
judge serving the central district's eastern division, which includes 
my home county of Riverside and San Bernardino County as well. What a 
tremendous honor for his family.
  Mr. Bernal graduated from Yale with honors, and then Stanford Law 
School. After law school, he clerked for Judge David Kenyon on the same 
court to which he has been nominated. What an amazing thing: The clerk 
becomes the judge.
  He began his career as an associate at Heller Ehrman, where he worked 
on complex commercial litigation cases. In 1996, he joined the L.A. 
office of the federal public defender for the central district and 
represented indigent defendants in federal court.
  In 2006, he became the directing attorney for the Riverside branch 
office where he supervises a team of attorneys, investigators, 
paralegals, and administrative staff. He served on the board of 
directors for the Federal Bar Association, Inland Empire Chapter, since 
2006, and he has dedicated time to working with at-risk youth.
  Confirming a judge to the central district's eastern division comes 
not a moment too soon. Riverside County has 23 percent of the central 
district's population. But out of the 25 active judges, there is only 1 
active judge sitting in Riverside. The people of Riverside need another 
judge. I am proud it will be Jesus Bernal, a highly respected member of 
that community.
  I want to thank the Senate Judiciary Committee, for this amazing 
support. And I want to thank President Obama for moving this 
recommendation forward.
  I also hope that before the Senate adjourns this year we approve four 
other California nominees who are awaiting confirmation: Fernando 
Olguin, Jon Tigar, Bill Orrick, and Troy Nunley. All are nominated to 
serve on courts that are considered judicial emergencies.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, I rise to express my strong support 
for the nomination of Jesus Bernal to be a U.S. District Judge for the 
Central District of California.
  Born in Mexico, Mr. Bernal is 49 years old. He earned his Bachelor's 
Degree cum laude from Yale University in 1986 and his law degree from 
Stanford Law School in 1989. He became a U.S. citizen in 1987.
  Following law school, Mr. Bernal spent 2 years as a law clerk for the 
Honorable David V. Kenyon on the same court to which he is nominated 
today, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
  Mr. Bernal began his career in private practice, working as an 
associate at the law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White, & McAuliffe in Los 
Angeles from 1991 through 1996. Mr. Bernal practiced complex civil 
litigation, representing corporate clients in business disputes.
  Since 1996, Mr. Bernal has worked as a Deputy Federal Public Defender 
in the Central District of California, where he has personally 
represented hundreds of indigent criminal defendants and overseen 
hundreds of other representations.
  Mr. Bernal has appeared hundreds of times in court. He represents 
defendants through each phase of their cases--in hearings and plea 
negotiations, and at trial, sentencing, and on appeal.
  Since 2006, Mr. Bernal has been a leader in the Federal Public 
Defender's Office, experience that will help him manage his courtroom. 
He is the Directing Attorney of the Riverside Branch Office, a role in 
which Mr. Bernal supervises trial attorneys, investigators, and other 
personnel, in addition to carrying his own caseload.
  He also serves as chairman of the Ethics Committee for the Federal 
Public Defender's Office for the whole Central District, which is the 
largest Federal Public Defender organization in the Nation. In this 
capacity, Mr. Bernal works to resolve ethical issues and to provide 
ethical guidance for the 240 employees who work for the Federal Public 
Defender in the Central District.
  Mr. Bernal has over 20 years of legal practice, including 5 years in 
complex civil litigation and 15 years in Federal criminal defense. He 
also has extensive practical experience supervising other attorneys. In 
short, he is well-prepared to serve on the District Court.
  The seat Mr. Bernal will fill has been vacant since former District 
Judge Stephen Larson stepped down from the bench in 2009.
  Judge Larson sat in the Eastern Division of the Court, which hears 
cases in Riverside and covers the counties of San Bernardino and 
Riverside, the 11th and 12th most populated counties in the Nation.
  The Central District is very busy. It has a caseload that is nearly 
30 percent above the national average, and the sixth-highest civil 
caseload in the Nation.
  The Eastern Division of the Central District is even more critically 
overloaded. It has only a single district judge. Yet it encompasses 
2,000 annual civil filings and 4.2 million people roughly the 
population of the entire commonwealth of Kentucky, which has nine 
active district judges and seven senior judges to handle its workload.
  In short, filling this particular seat is very important and will 
bring needed judicial resources to the Federal bench in Riverside.
  I also want to urge the confirmations of other judicial nominees from 
my home State.
  Including Mr. Bernal, 5 of the 15 district court nominees on the 
Executive Calendar are from California. The other nominees are:

       Magistrate Judge Fernando Olguin, a nominee to the Central 
     District whom I recommended to the President;
       Superior Court Judge Jon Tigar and Bill Orrick, nominees to 
     the Northern District recommended by Senator Boxer; and
       Superior Court Judge Troy Nunley, a nominee to the Eastern 
     District whom I recommended to the President.

  All four were approved by bipartisan votes in the Judiciary 
Committee, three of them by voice vote.
  Each of these districts is in a judicial emergency according to the 
Judicial Conference of the United States.

[[Page 16667]]

  The Central District's caseload is over 30 percent above the national 
average. The Northern District's caseload is over 20 percent above the 
national average. It now takes over 50 percent longer for a case to go 
to trial than it did a year ago in the Northern District, which hears 
some of our county's most complex technology cases.
  The Eastern District is the most overworked district in the Nation by 
far. With over 1,100 weighted filings per judgeship, its caseload is 
over twice the national average.
  Simply put, my State more than any other urgently needs us to take 
prompt action on judicial nominees.
  So, I urge my colleagues to support the nomination of Jesus Bernal, 
and to support confirming the four other distinguished California 
nominees pending on the Executive Calendar this year.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Leahy are printed in today's Record under 
``Morning Business.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, first of all, let me thank the chairman 
of the Judiciary Committee for allowing me to say something about our 
vote that is coming up.
  Mr. Dowdell has been nominated to a vacancy on the U.S. District 
Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, which sits in my hometown 
of Tulsa. In fact, he is a neighbor of mine in Tulsa.
  After graduating from the University of Tulsa's College of Law, Mr. 
Dowdell began his legal career as a clerk to the chief judge of the 
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Since 1983, Mr. Dowdell has accumulated 
extensive State and Federal litigation experience representing a 
variety of clients working at the same firm in Tulsa of which he is a 
partner.
  Mr. Dowdell is a native Tulsan and has been extensively involved in 
the community, in addition to being widely recognized for his work on 
behalf of his clients. I received a number of letters from members of 
the legal community throughout Tulsa highlighting Mr. Dowdell's work 
ethic, his character, and his abilities as an advocate for his clients.
  Mr. Dowdell already has experience as a mediator and arbitrator and 
has served as an adjunct settlement judge in the Northern District for 
the past 14 years, which is the district for which he is nominated. He 
and his wife of 24 years, Rochelle, like my wife and I, have four 
children, which I always remind people is just the right amount. If you 
are ever going to have 20 kids and grandkids, you have to start with 4, 
and he understands that.
  Although it often seems as if I am on the opposite side of many of 
this administration's judicial nominees, I can say with confidence that 
this is not the case with Mr. Dowdell. Mr. Dowdell has the requisite 
experience and judicial temperament to make a fine judge in the 
Northern District of Oklahoma.
  I am particularly impressed with Mr. Dowdell's commitment to ``render 
decisions fairly and impartially, applying the relevant law to the 
facts without bias or prejudgment,'' to interpret a statute or 
constitutional provision in a case of first impression by first 
considering ``the statutory text or provision in the context of its 
plain and ordinary meaning''--that says a lot--and to not consult 
foreign law when interpreting the U.S. Constitution. Too often in this 
country we have judges applying their own meanings to the Constitution 
and to the laws passed by Congress or allowing their own biases to 
affect their decisions. I can state confidently to my colleagues that 
Judge Dowdell will not be this type of a judge.
  In his Questions for the Record to the Senate Judiciary Committee, 
Mr. Dowdell has stated that he does not agree with the notion that the 
Constitution is a ``living'' document that constantly evolves as 
society interprets it. He further states that the ``Constitution 
changes only through the amendment process, as set forth in Article V 
of the Constitution.'' That is refreshing. ``A court's job is to 
interpret and apply the Constitution, not to add or amend the rights 
contained therein.'' That is a quote by him.
  Based on these statements, I can say that Mr. Dowdell's judicial 
philosophy is in keeping with the Framers and in lockstep with my own 
philosophy. My only wish is that we would get more of this type of 
judicial nominee from the administration.
  It is for these reasons that I support Mr. Dowdell's confirmation to 
the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, and I 
hope my colleagues will do the same.
  This vote should be coming up in about 10 minutes. I do encourage a 
positive vote on Mr. Dowdell.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                 Vote on Nomination of John E. Dowdell

  Under the previous order, the question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of John E. Dowdell, of Oklahoma, to be United 
States District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma?
  Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), the 
Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Lautenberg), the Senator from Missouri 
(Mrs. McCaskill), and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Nelson) are 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Casey). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 95, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 226 Ex.]

                                YEAS--95

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Begich
     Bennet
     Bingaman
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Brown (MA)
     Brown (OH)
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Johnson (WI)
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Lee
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lugar
     Manchin
     McCain
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Paul
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Vitter
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Inouye
     Kirk
     Lautenberg
     McCaskill
     Nelson (NE)
  The nomination was confirmed.


                 Vote on Nomination of Jesus G. Bernal

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is, 
Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of Jesus G. 
Bernal, of California, to be United States District Judge for the 
Central District of California?
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motions to 
reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table.
  The President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________