[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2653-2654]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, today I wish to discuss the current 
judicial vacancy crisis. We have in many instances abrogated our 
responsibility to advise and consent in the nomination process. An 
estimated 160 million people live in districts with a courtroom vacancy 
that could have been filled last year with the cooperation of Senate 
Republicans. There are currently 20 nominees who have been approved by 
the Senate Judiciary Committee or are waiting a simple up-or-down vote 
which Republicans have historically supported. One of these nominees is 
Ronnie Abrams.
  Ms. Abrams was nominated in July of 2011 by President Obama to serve 
as a Federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern 
District of New York. She is currently a lawyer with the law firm Davis 
Polk & Wardwell. She is also an adjunct professor at Columbia Law 
School, teaching a seminar on the investigation and prosecution of 
Federal criminal cases. Prior to her current positions, Ms. Abrams 
distinguished herself as a prosecutor, rising to deputy chief, Criminal 
Division, at the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New 
York. As deputy chief, she supervised over 160 prosecutors in cases 
involving violent crimes, white-collar crimes, public corruption, 
narcotics trafficking, and computer crimes. In recognition of her 
service, she was awarded the Department of Justice Director's Award for 
Superior Performance as a Federal Prosecutor. Ms. Abrams is a highly 
experienced and exceptional attorney, who is extremely well qualified 
to serve as a Federal court judge. A nominee of this caliber deserves 
to be quickly confirmed by the Senate.
  In particular, we should have a renewed, bipartisan commitment to 
confirming more women to the bench. Over the past three decades, an 
increasing number of women have joined the legal profession. In recent 
years, law schools have seen the number of female students increase. 
According to the National Women's Law Center, women now make up nearly 
half of all law students. But the number of women in the Federal 
judiciary has stagnated and women are woefully

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underrepresented. It is of critical importance to increase the 
representation of women and communities of color on the Federal bench. 
Today, women make up roughly 30 percent of the Federal bench. When 
women are fairly represented on our Federal courts, those courts are 
more reflective of our society.
  What is disturbing about this vacancy crisis is that the total number 
of Federal circuit and district court judges confirmed during the first 
3 years of the Obama administration is far less than for previous 
Presidents. For instance, the Senate has confirmed only 124 of 
President Obama's Federal circuit and district court nominees, compared 
to 168 Federal circuit and district court judges confirmed at this 
point in the Presidency of George W. Bush and 183 Federal circuit and 
district court judges confirmed at this point in President Clinton's 
administration.
  To give you an even better breakdown, there are 20 judicial 
nominations reported favorable by the Judiciary Committee, 15 of which 
have been pending since last year, 18 of which have strong bipartisan 
support. So why is there a delay in confirming these nominees? Senate 
Republicans have failed to offer an answer.
  Nominees such as Ronnie Abrams deserve better by receiving a swift 
up-or-down vote. The American people deserve better by having 
representation in their district and circuit courts. We need to give 
these nominees, most of whom have strong bipartisan support, a full up-
or-down vote by the Senate. If we continue down this road of rejecting 
nominees simply because their nomination originates across the aisle, 
we are establishing an impossible standard that no nominee will ever 
meet. We ought to have the same respect for the judicial system that we 
have for the legislative system in which we ourselves work. I urge my 
colleagues to help move these nominees forward.

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