[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17157-17161]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

 NOMINATIONS OF FERNANDO M. OLGUIN TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 
   FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA AND THOMAS M. DURKIN TO BE 
   UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

  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 assistant legislative clerk read the nominations of Fernando M. 
Olguin, of California, to be United States District Judge for the 
Central District of California and Thomas M. Durkin, of Illinois, to be 
United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 30 
minutes of debate, equally divided in the usual form.
  The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, originally we were planning to vote at 5:30 
p.m. The distinguished ranking member has no objection. I ask unanimous 
consent that the time be divided between now and 5:30 p.m. in the 
normal fashion and the votes be at 5:30 p.m.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, so Senators will know, it is my 
understanding that the first vote, on the confirmation of Fernando 
Olguin, of California, will be a voice vote, and the second one for Mr. 
Durkin will be a rollcall vote, which is what I understand from the 
Senator from Iowa, which, of course, is perfectly acceptable to the 
Democratic side.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today the Senate is finally being allowed 
to vote to confirm two consensus judicial nominees who should have been 
voted on months ago. Both Judge Fernando Olguin and Thomas Durkin were 
voted out of the Judiciary Committee before the August recess. Both 
will finally fill judicial emergency vacancies in the Central District 
of California and the Northern District of Illinois that were 
needlessly held vacant since this summer by partisan delay tactics. 
Their service to the American people has been unnecessarily delayed by 
over four months.
  In the Central District of California, there are over 12,000 cases 
pending before its judges, and in the Northern District of Illinois 
there are close to 11,000 cases pending before its judges.

[[Page 17158]]

Every single judge in each district has approximately 450 or more cases 
pending on their dockets. This enormous backlog of cases exists in many 
of our Federal courts in this country and it means that the American 
people are not able to receive speedy justice.
  More than twice the number of judicial vacancies exists compared to 
the vacancies left at the end of President Bush's first term. The 
Senate should be voting on all 16 of the judicial nominees reported to 
the Senate by the Judiciary Committee. I have also been urging 
Republicans to expedite consideration of the four judicial nominees who 
participated in hearings last Wednesday. That would lead to 20 more 
confirmations before the Senate adjourns later this month.
  Historically, the Senate has confirmed hundreds of judicial nominees 
within 14 days of their Judiciary Committee hearings, including more 
than 600 confirmed since World War II within just one week of their 
hearings. In contrast, obstruction by Senate Republicans has caused 
President Obama's district court nominees to wait an average of 103 
days for a Senate vote after being reported by the Judiciary Committee, 
which Committee consideration has itself often been delayed 30 days or 
more after their hearings. This destructive practice of delaying for no 
good reason should be abandoned.
  Republican filibusters and pocket filibusters are also preventing 
votes on circuit court nominees who should be confirmed by consensus 
before the Senate adjourns for the year. For example, one of the 
nominations Senate Republicans are holding up is that of Judge Robert 
Bacharach of Oklahoma to the Tenth Circuit, who they filibustered 
earlier this year. Senator Coburn, one of his home state Senators, 
said: ``He has no opposition in the Senate. . . . There's no reason why 
he shouldn't be confirmed.'' That also applies to Richard Taranto, who 
was reported more than eight months ago to a vacancy on the Federal 
Circuit. That applies to William Kayatta of Maine, who was reported 
nearly eight months ago and has the support of his two home state 
Republican Senators.
  After today's votes, there will still be nine judicial nominees 
stalled on the Senate Executive Calendar who were reported before the 
August recess, and who should have been confirmed months ago. Most are 
consensus nominees. All have the support of both their home state 
Senators, including their home state Republican Senators. The Senate 
should be voting to confirm all these nominees before the Senate 
adjourns for the year.
  When George W. Bush was President, Senate Democrats cooperated in 
moving judicial nominees quickly through the Committee and to a 
confirmation vote at the end of the year. I did so whether I was 
Chairman or the ranking member. By way of example, in 2008 we confirmed 
five of President Bush's nominees just three days after their hearing. 
We have often been able to do this at the end of a Congress, and this 
year should be no exception especially given the high level of judicial 
vacancies plaguing our Federal courts.
  Judge Fernando Olguin is nominated to fill a judicial emergency 
vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of 
California, where he has been serving as a Magistrate Judge for over a 
decade. He was the first Latino-American to serve as a Magistrate Judge 
in that District. Prior to that, Judge Olguin was in private practice 
for several years and also served as a Trial Attorney at the Civil 
Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He earned his law 
degree from the University of California at Berkley. After law school, 
he clerked for the Honorable C.A. Muecke of the U.S. District Court for 
the District of Arizona. His nomination has the support of both his 
home state Senators. Judge Olguin was approved by the Judiciary 
Committee nearly five months ago by voice vote.
  Thomas Durkin is nominated to fill a judicial emergency vacancy on 
the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 
Currently a partner at the Chicago office of Mayer Brown LLP, he also 
served as a Federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois for 
13 years. During his time as a Federal prosecutor, he rose to become 
the Chief of the Criminal Receiving and Appellate Division as well as 
the Chief of the Special Prosecutions Division. From 1991 to 1993, he 
served as the First Assistant United States Attorney of that District. 
Upon graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for the 
Honorable Stanley J. Roszkowski of the U.S. District Court for the 
Northern District of Illinois. The ABA Standing Committee on the 
Federal Judiciary unanimously gave him its highest possible rating of 
``Well Qualified.'' His nomination has the bipartisan support of his 
home state Senators. He was approved by the Judiciary Committee more 
than four months ago by voice vote.
  The Senate should finally confirm these two nominees today and 
proceed to vote on all the other judicial nominees stalled on the 
Senate Executive Calendar. We can fill 10 more judicial emergency 
vacancies before adjourning this year. We can help our Federal courts 
uphold their constitutional responsibility to provide speedy justice.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, would it be appropriate if I ask for a 
rollcall vote on Judge Durkin?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I will not use my entire time. If 
anybody else wants to speak, there will be time between now and 5:30 to 
speak. I think both these nominees will be approved overwhelmingly; 
obviously, the one with the voice vote probably will be, and I think 
the other one will be as well.
  Today, the Senate turns to the confirmation of these two U.S. 
district judges.


                      Newtown, Connecticut Tragedy

  Before I address that issue, I express my condolences to the victims 
and families in Newtown, CT. As a nation, we join to express our grief 
and to offer support and comfort to this community. Our thoughts and 
prayers are with the families who have suffered from this senseless 
act.
  From time to time I have given my colleagues an update regarding the 
facts of judicial confirmations. Despite our steady progress on 
confirmations, we continue to hear complaints from bar associations, 
interest groups, editorial boards, and even some fellow Senators. Of 
course, these are the same groups that remained silent or at the time 
cheered on the efforts to block judicial nominees of the previous 
President. Multiple filibusters, failure to hold hearings, pocket 
filibusters of one sort or another, and other tactics of delay and 
obstruction were routinely used against President Bush's nominees. By 
the end of his Presidency, President Bush had 53 nominees who were not 
confirmed. That is nearly one out of every seven who were blocked. 
Somehow that history seems to have faded.
  Today we continue to confirm this President's nominees, even in a 
lameduck Presidential election year. As I have stated before, the 
Senate rarely confirms judicial nominees during lameduck sessions in a 
Presidential election year. It did so in a very limited fashion in 
1944, 1980, and the year 2004.
  The last time a President was reelected--President Bush in 2004--only 
three judicial nominees were confirmed following the election.
  That year, following President Bush's reelection, 23 judicial 
nominations that were pending either on the Senate executive calendar 
or in the Judiciary Committee were returned to the President when the 
Congress adjourned in December. Today President Obama will have 10 
confirmations in this lameduck session, and obviously a lameduck 
session in a Presidential election year.
  This is a new record. No other President can claim that success. So 
for those who say this President is being

[[Page 17159]]

treated differently, I must agree. President Obama will have the most 
postelection judicial confirmations of any President.
  This year has been a productive year for judicial confirmations. We 
have already confirmed 39 district judges and 5 circuit judges. Today's 
vote meets or exceeds the confirmations for Presidential election years 
in recent memory. During the last Presidential election year, 2008, the 
Senate confirmed a total of 28 judges, 24 district and 4 circuit. This 
Presidential election year we have exceeded those numbers. We have 
confirmed 5 circuit nominees, and these confirmations will bring the 
district confirmations to 41. That is a total of 46 judges this year 
versus 28 in the last Presidential election year. In fact, going back 
to 1984, there has been only one Presidential election year in which 
more district judges were confirmed.
  Let me emphasize that point. In only one of the past Presidential 
elections have more district nominees been confirmed. During this 
Congress, the 112th, we have confirmed 106 judges. That is the third 
highest total for any Congress going back to 1989 or, in other words, 
the past 12 Congresses. In total, the Senate has confirmed 168 district 
and circuit nominees during this President's first term. So I think by 
any objective measure one would have to conclude we are treating this 
President and his nominees quite fairly.
  I stated at the beginning of my remarks, I expect these nominees to 
be fairly noncontroversial or totally noncontroversial. I intend to 
support them.
  Today we vote on the nomination of Fernando M. Olguin, to be United 
States District Judge for the Central District of California and Thomas 
M. Durkin, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District 
of Illinois.
  After graduating from University of California Berkeley School of Law 
in 1989, Judge Olguin clerked for the Honorable C.A. Muecke, U.S. 
District Court Judge for the District of Arizona. In 1991, Judge Olguin 
began working as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the 
United States Department of Justice. There he prosecuted violations of 
the Fair Housing Act and the Public Accommodations Act.
  From 1995 to 2001, Judge Olguin was a partner at Traber, Voorhees & 
Olguin, where he litigated housing and employment cases on behalf of 
underprivileged clients. Since 2001 he has served as a United States 
Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California.
  The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal 
Judiciary gave him a rating of Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority 
Not Qualified.
  Mr. Durkin received his B.S. with honors from University of Illinois 
at Champaign-Urbana in 1975 and his J.D. with honors from DePaul 
University College of Law in 1978. Upon graduation, he clerked for 
Stanley J. Roszkowski, United States District Court Judge for the 
Northern District of Illinois. After his clerkship, Mr. Durkin joined 
the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois. 
There, he handled a variety of cases, including bank robbery, postal 
theft, narcotics, immigration cases, firearms cases, commodities, 
securities and tax fraud, and political corruption. Mr. Durkin also 
held a number of supervisory roles in the office, including Deputy 
Chief of Special Prosecutions, Chief of the Criminal Receiving and 
Appellate Division, Chief of the Special Prosecutions Division, and 
First Assistant United States Attorney.
  In 1993, Mr. Durkin joined Mayer Brown and focused on white collar 
criminal defense, internal investigations, patent litigation, 
securities litigation, civil rights litigation, consumer class action 
litigation, and product liability litigation. According to his 
questionnaire, Mr. Durkin has exclusively been a litigator and has 
frequently been in court his entire career. He estimates that he has 
tried approximately 95 cases to verdict.
  The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal 
Judiciary gave him a Unanimous Well Qualified rating.
  I support these nominees and congratulate them on their votes for 
confirmation.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, pending on the Senate calendar today for 
consideration is the nomination of Tom Durkin to serve on the U.S. 
District Court for the Northern District Court of Illinois.
  Tom Durkin is a consensus bipartisan nominee. Senator Kirk and I 
strongly support his nomination. We believe he has all of the necessary 
attributes to be an effective Federal judge. Our view was shared by 
bipartisan screening committees in Illinois. Senator Kirk's committee, 
and my own committee, recommended Tom Durkin.
  It is no secret that he has the qualifications, independence, and 
integrity to serve in a distinguished manner on the bench. The 
nonpartisan American Bar Association has awarded Mr. Durkin its highest 
rating of unanimously well-qualified.
  Throughout his career Tom Durkin has demonstrated strong leadership 
in his community and a solid commitment to public service.
  A native of Chicago, Tom received his bachelor's degree with honors 
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and received his 
J.D. with honors from DePaul University College of Law. After 
graduating from law school, he served for 2 years as law clerk to the 
Honorable Stanley J. Roszkowski, a personal friend of mine, and an 
excellent judge for the District Court for the Northern District of 
Illinois.
  Following his clerkship, Mr. Durkin joined the U.S. Attorney's Office 
for the Northern District of Illinois where he worked for 13 years and 
served in numerous leadership positions, including first assistant U.S. 
attorney. He joined the law firm of Mayer Brown as a partner in 1993 
where he works to this day. His practice concentrates on complex 
commercial litigation and criminal defense. He has received numerous 
awards, including listings in ``The Best Lawyers in America'' and 
``Illinois Super Lawyers.''
  Mr. Durkin also has an impressive record of community service. He 
served for 9 years on the board of Legal Assistance Foundation in 
Chicago, and for nearly a decade he was the chair of Mayer Brown's pro 
bono committee. He has also taught as an adjunct professor of law at 
DePaul and at the John Marshall Law School.
  Tom Durkin was reported out of the Judiciary Committee by a unanimous 
vote on August 2, 4\1/2\ months ago. I am relieved we are finally 
moving ahead with his confirmation. This vacancy, incidentally, has 
been declared a judicial emergency, and I am glad it is now going to be 
filled.
  In closing, I wish to note that he comes from an extraordinary 
family, well known throughout Chicago, and especially in legal circles. 
There is only one black sheep in the family; it is Tom's brother, Jim, 
a Republican State representative who ran against me for the Senate in 
2002 the famous Durkin-Durbin race in Illinois. But we ended that race 
friends. I have great respect for Jim and Tom Durkin and for their 
whole family.
  I wish Tom Durkin the very best and commend his nomination to my 
colleagues. I believe he will be an excellent Federal court judge and I 
am glad he and several other Federal district court nominees are going 
to be confirmed this week.
 Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I offer my strong support for Thomas 
Durkin to fill one of the four vacancies on the U.S. District Court in 
the Northern District of Illinois.
  Because of his outstanding experience and record of public service, I 
submitted Thomas Durkin's candidacy to the White House in July 2011, 
following the recommendation of my nonpartisan Judicial Review 
Commission. Senator Durbin had previously forwarded Mr. Durkin's name 
to President Obama in 2009, based on the recommendation of his 
screening committee.
  The judgeship for which Mr. Durkin has been nominated is considered a 
``judicial emergency'' by the Judicial Conference of the United States. 
Confirmation of this qualified nominee will ease the backlog of cases 
and allow the dispensation of justice in a fair and timely manner.

[[Page 17160]]

  I thank Senator Durbin for his leadership, and I urge my colleagues 
to support this bipartisan nomination and confirm Mr. Durkin to the 
Federal bench.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I wish to express my strong support 
for the nomination of Fernando Olguin, whom I recommended to President 
Obama to be a U.S. District Judge for the Central District of 
California after he earned a strong recommendation from my bipartisan 
judicial selection committee.
  Born and raised in the greater Los Angeles community of Azusa, Judge 
Olguin lives in the Los Angeles area today.
  He is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of 
California, Berkeley School of Law.
  After serving for 2 years as a law clerk to a Federal district court 
judge in Arizona, Judge Olguin joined the U.S. Department of Justice 
through the Attorney General's Honors Program.
  From 1991 through 1994, Judge Olguin served as a trial attorney in 
the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC, enforcing numerous Federal 
statutes, including the Fair Housing Act and the Public Accommodations 
Act.
  He then joined the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 
or MALDEF, serving as its national education program director from 1994 
to 1995 in Washington, DC.
  Judge Olguin then came back to California, becoming a partner at the 
law firm Traber, Voorhees, and Olguin, where he practiced civil 
litigation from 1995 to 2001.
  He was appointed to serve as a magistrate judge in 2001, where he has 
built a stellar record. In his 11 years on the bench, he has managed a 
docket of hundreds of cases at a time and issued hundreds of published 
opinions, as well as nearly 2,000 decisions and orders.
  In 2011, he had the best record of any magistrate judge on the court 
at working with litigants to settle their disputes. This is very 
important in a busy district like the Central District, whose judges 
carry the seventh-highest civil caseload in the Nation.
  Judge Olguin is well respected in the L.A. community, and he is 
supported by the law enforcement community including L.A.P.D. Chief 
Charlie Beck, L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, and the Los Angeles Police 
Protective League.
  Chief Beck says Judge Olguin's record ``has been characterized by 
fairness, thoroughness, sound judgment, and evenness of temperament.''
  In short, Judge Olguin is well-qualified, seasoned, and fair. I am 
very proud to support him, and I urge my colleagues to support him as 
well.
  I also want to urge the confirmations of other judicial nominees from 
my home State, many of which have been pending on the executive 
calendar for months.
  Including Judge Olguin, four of the 13 District Court nominees on the 
executive calendar are from California. The other nominees are: 
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 three were approved by bipartisan votes in the Judiciary 
Committee, two of them by voice vote.
  Each of these districts is in a judicial emergency according to the 
Judicial Conference of the United States.
  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 country'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.
  With this extreme crisis, I especially urge my colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle to allow Judge Troy Nunley to be confirmed this 
year.
  Judge Nunley essentially was a career prosecutor and State Department 
of Justice lawyer before joining the State bench over 10 years ago. He 
is highly qualified and experienced. He also earned unanimous support 
in the Judiciary Committee, so he is uncontroversial.
  I am very pleased we recently confirmed Jesus Bernal to the Central 
District, and I urge my colleagues to support Judge Olguin as well.
  My State--more than any other--urgently needs us to take prompt 
action on judicial nominees. I am pleased with the progress we have 
made in the lameduck, and I very much hope the three other California 
nominees who remain on the calendar will be confirmed.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am proud to offer my support for the 
confirmation of Magistrate Judge Fernando M. Olguin to the U.S. 
district court for the Central District of California.
  Judge Olguin was recommended to the President by my colleague, 
Senator Feinstein, and will be a great addition to California's Central 
District.
  Judge Olguin will bring to the bench his broad experience as a 
skilled lawyer and a Federal magistrate. A graduate of Harvard 
University and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, 
Judge Olguin worked from 1995 to 2001 as a partner for the law firm of 
Traber, Voorhees, and Olguin. In 2001, he received an appointment to 
become a magistrate judge in the Central District of California, where 
he has served with great distinction.
  I urge my colleagues to support the Olguin nomination.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin.) The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                       Passing of Senator Inouye

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise with a real heavy heart. Our friend, 
Dan Inouye, just died.
  I have never known anyone like Dan Inouye. No one else has. The 
kindness he has shown me during my time here in the Senate is something 
I will cherish always. He was a man who has lived and breathed the 
Senate. If there were ever a patriot, Dan Inouye was that patriot.
  A week ago last Friday he and I spent some time together in his 
office, just the two of us alone. We spent an hour together, and we 
ended the meeting with both of us saying: You know, we need to do this 
again. Well, I won't be able to do that again. He won't be able to do 
that again.
  He was a wonderful Senator, brave soldier, a recipient of the Medal 
of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Bronze Star, and Purple 
Heart. He left an arm in Italy. He said to me at that last meeting 
together, when I asked him: Dan, did anything else happen to you, other 
than your arm? He said: Yeah, I got shot in the gut--that is what he 
said--and the leg a couple of times.
  We will all miss him, and that is a gross understatement. I wish I 
were capable of saying more, but that is all I can say. I have talked 
to his wife Irene. She is there, with his son. We have known for a few 
hours this wasn't working out well for Senator Inouye. But he was 
certainly one of the giants of the Senate.
  I remember what he said when his son asked why he fought the way he 
did after having been declared an enemy alien. He said he did it for 
the children. That was Senator Inouye. His commitment to our Nation 
will never be surpassed. His service in the Senate will be with the 
greats of this body.
  Now I should ask my friend if he wishes to speak upon this issue. It 
would be my hope the two votes that are scheduled could both be done--
these judges--by voice vote. I don't think it is appropriate to record 
a vote at this time.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the two judges be 
approved by voice vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I think we all, at a subsequent time--I just 
talked to his wife and walked out here--will have some more formal 
remarks.

[[Page 17161]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I too am going to address the 
remarkable life of Senator Inouye at a later time, but I did want to 
make some observations here for a few moments at the time of his 
passing.
  Senator Inouye was a man who, as we all know, rarely called attention 
to himself but who lived a remarkable American life filled with the 
dignity and grace of the true hero he was.
  He was only 17 when he heard the sirens over Honolulu and saw the 
great planes flying overhead. At the time he dreamed of being a 
surgeon. A few years later a medic would be taking care of him after 
his heroic action in the Italian mountains, for which he would one day 
receive our Nation's most prestigious award for military valor.
  Dan Inouye's dream of being a surgeon was not realized but there were 
other things in store. Instead, he became a member of one of the most 
decorated U.S. military units in American history and one of our 
Nation's longest serving and finest Senators.
  An iconic political figure of his beloved Hawaii, and the only 
original member of the congressional delegation still serving in 
Congress, he was a man who had every reason to call attention to 
himself but who never did.
  He was the kind of man, in short, that America has always been 
grateful to have, especially in our darkest hours--men who lead by 
example and who expect nothing in return.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I didn't mention, and I should have, but I 
really have been waiting the last hour or so to make sure it was okay 
with his wife that I come and say something, so I haven't had time to 
do much other than feel bad about Senator Inouye.
  As I indicated, I talked to Irene. I wasn't able to talk to Ken, but 
I did talk to Irene. I want to make sure everyone understands the depth 
of my feelings--and I know I am speaking for the entire Senate. Dan 
Inouye believed in me, even more than I believed in myself. Many, many 
years ago--a couple of decades ago--he said: You know, you're going to 
do great things in the Senate, and he always talked about my leading 
the Senate. And he always came and said: You did the right thing. He 
would always tell you that you would do the right thing.
  The chapter of Dan Inouye in the Senate is something that is 
remarkable, not only his military record but what he did with the 
defense aspects of our country, the security aspects of our country. 
And there was no one more bipartisan than Senator Inouye.
  He has a brother who lives in Las Vegas, and a wonderful person he 
is, but he was as close to Ted Stevens as he was to any person could be 
to a brother. They were brothers. They called themselves brothers. So 
he set an example always about bipartisanship, about working with 
others. And as far as being a good member of our caucus, no one was 
better than he was.
  No one has been a better American than Senator Inouye. And when we 
talk about people in Hawaii and who they revere, it is Senator Inouye. 
The State of Hawaii is going through a great deal at this time. Senator 
Akaka has announced his retirement, and now the death of Senator 
Inouye.
  On behalf of all Senators, I express my appreciation for his service 
and his friendship.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hagan). The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. 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 Thomas M. Durkin

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is, 
Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of Thomas M. 
Durkin, of Illinois, to be United States District Judge for the 
Northern District of Illinois?
  The nomination was confirmed.


                Vote on Nomination of Fernando M. Olguin

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is, 
Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of Fernando M. 
Olguin, 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 made and laid upon the table. The President will be 
immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________