Judicial Nominations

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the package of four Illinois district court nominees who are scheduled to receive votes on the floor this week.

In my State, Democrats and Republicans have long worked together in a respectful, bipartisan way to select Federal judges.

For example, when two Illinois vacancies opened up on the 7th Circuit in 2017, back before Senate Republicans decided to abandon the circuit court blue slip, we were able to negotiate a package of two well- qualified nominees, Amy St. Eve and Michael Scudder, who both were confirmed by the Senate unanimously.

For district court vacancies, Illinois has a longstanding ``three to one'' system.

Under this system, the President's party gets to select the candidates for three out of four district court vacancies, and the other party gets to select the candidate for the fourth. Then the parties negotiate until they reach agreement on packages of nominees that can move forward to confirmation.

Under this system, Democrats and Republicans have to work together and compromise. Neither side gets everything they want, but for several decades, this bipartisan process has kept both parties at the table and has served Illinois well.

During President Trump's tenure, there have been two packages of Illinois district court nominees that we have negotiated with the senior Member of the Republican congressional delegation-- Representative John Shimkus--and the White House.

The first was a package of four Chicago nominees--now judges--that included Democratic pick Mary Rowland, a former Federal public defender and the first openly LGBT judge on the Chicago bench.

The second package of Illinois nominees, which we negotiated throughout 2019 and agreed upon last December, includes Federal Magistrate Judge Iain Johnston of Rockford; Illinois 3rd Judicial Circuit Judge David Dugan of Madison County; Illinois 20th Judicial Circuit Judge Stephen McGlynn of St. Clair County; and the Democratic pick, Judge Franklin Valderrama of the Cook County Circuit Court.

All of the nominees in the current Illinois package have significant judicial experience and were rated well-qualified by the American Bar Association.

Each nominee also was reviewed by judicial screening committees that we established, including a Southern District judicial screening committee, chaired by former Federal judge Patrick Murphy, and a Northern District committee, chaired by former Federal judge David Coar. Each nominee received screening committee approval based on their qualifications and their record as judges.

I want to say that I recognize and respect the opposition that has been expressed to two of the Republican picks in this package, Judges Dugan and McGlynn.

These nominees have made statements and expressed views with which I disagree, particularly on matters involving reproductive rights.

These nominees would not have been Democratic picks in our Illinois system, but under the system, Democrats and Republicans have to work together on bipartisan packages, and neither side gets everything their way.

While I disagree with statements that Judges Dugan and McGlynn have made, I agreed to this package of nominees as part of our bipartisan State process, and I will support all four nominees in the package.

I also want to briefly discuss the Democratic pick in this package, Judge Franklin Valderrama.

For the past 14 years, he has served as an associate judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County. He has extensive experience both as a judge and as a practitioner and is highly respected.

When a Chicago-based Federal judgeship became vacant last year, we put out a public call for applications. An extraordinary group of 50 candidates applied. Our screening committee vetted them all, and Judge Valderrama was at the top of the list.

I believe he will be an outstanding addition to the Federal bench in Chicago.

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