Executive Session - Nomination of Richard C. Wesley to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit

SCHUMER: SENATE BACKS THE NOMINATION OF JUDGE RICHARD WESLEY

Senate Votes 96-0 to Support Wesley's Nomination to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals

US Senator Charles E. Schumer today urged the US Senate to support the nomination of Richard Wesley to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The following is Schumer's statement from the Senate floor:

"Mr. President, I want to join my colleague from Vermont and my colleague from New York in supporting the nomination of Judge Wesley. I rise in enthusiastic sport of Richard Wesley's nomination to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Like most nominees we see, Judge Wesley has a top-flight legal mind and experience. He graduated from SUNY Albany, summa cum laude and from Cornell Law School. He worked in private practice for several years and then was a staffer to the Republican Minority Leader of the New York State Assembly. And then from 1983 to 1987 he represented the 136th district in the Assembly. This was just after I left the Assembly, so I never had the privilege of serving with him. But my former colleagues in the Assembly, many of whom disagreed on policy with Judge Wesley, have spoken very highly of his capabilities and his integrity.

"He has served on the State Trial Court in New York, the Intermediate Appellate Court and for the past six years on New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals. He has the distinction of being appointed to the bench by both Governor Cuomo and Governor Pataki so there is serious history of bipartisan support. His nomination has also been championed by his good friend and my friend, Congressman Reynolds over in the other body as well as by Bill Paxon. They have known him for a very long time and vouch for him as well. I don't think judge Wesley would have gotten where he did without the push from Tom Reynolds. And I think we all appreciate it, because we're adding a qualified person to the bench.

"So there's no question Judge Wesley is well-qualified. But as my colleagues know, legal excellence is only one of the three criteria I use when evaluating nominees. I also look at diversity and moderation. Judge Wesley is the third Second Circuit judge we've considered under the Bush Administration. Judge Barrington Parker whom we confirmed in 2001 is African-American. Judge Reena Raggi is a woman. We're doing well in diversity when it comes to that Court.

"I'd like to read to you what Judge Wesley has said about his own judicial philosophy: I consider myself a conservative in nature, pragmatic at the same time with a fair appreciation of judicial restraint. I've always restricted myself to what I understand to be the plain language of the statute and not gone beyond that because public policy is made by the legislature.

"That's a candid assessment of how Judge Wesley judges. And it's not just words. We've had nominees who have come before us and have said that, but this is what he's done because he has a record. He's had 16 years on the bench to back it up.

"We know that Judge Wesley has certain positions he personally believes in. He has an ideology. That's clear from several of the votes he took in the Assembly. He, for instance, in the assembly voted the pro-life point of view. That's different than mine. And of course I do not have a litmus test. Most of us don't. But what's abundantly clear from his record on the bench is that he can check his personal beliefs at the chamber's door and judge fairly and honestly.

"Unlike some of the nominees we have seen, including Bill Pryor, the Fifth Circuit nominee whose contentious hearing is going on in the Judiciary Committee as we speak, there is nothing controversial about Judge Wesley. He's thoughtful, he's scholarly. He unites judges behind his opinion. He is a uniter, not a divider. He's a judge, not an activist. He'll be a credit to the New York Second circuit and the Senate when we confirm him. And it would be my wish, Mr. President, that this would be the character of the President's nominees.

"I'd like to ask unanimous consent to submit in the record an editorial from Judge Wesley's hometown paper, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. It says bipartisan support. Then it says, if only more judicial nominees would go as smoothly as this one. I wish that would happen.

"And it will happen, Mr. President, if the President truly consults with us and nominates judges in the mold of Judge Wesley, clearly conservative but also clearly within the mainstream. It would be my hope that we wouldn't have 51 votes for many of the nominees, but 100 for most all of the nominees, or close to it. And if this President should decide to treat the nominees and the rest of the country the way he's treating nominees in the Second Circuit, that is just what would happen. That is my hope. That is my prayer.

"I want to urge every one of my colleagues to vote for this fine addition to the bench. We are all proud of him in New York State and he will make a great addition to the second circuit."