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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Judge Holly Thomas is a nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She went through the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is a bipartisan committee of 11 to 11. She was before the committee, available for questions and available for written questions soon afterward.

If the Senator from Alaska or any other Senator has a grievance with the White House's procedure on how to handle his nominees, so be it, but is she going to be punished because that decision was made at the White House level? She went through the committee, as we asked her to, and made herself available. She has an extraordinary record as a jurist, and to dismiss her because of a disagreement with the White House on the procedure on his nominees, I don't think it is fair. I think she deserves to be judged on her merits, and on her merits, she should be sitting on the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. President, today, the Senate will consider the nomination of Judge Holly Thomas for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Judge Thomas is a highly qualified nominee. Her extensive experience as an appellate litigator and a California State court judge will serve her well on the Ninth Circuit.

And, if confirmed, she would be the first Black woman from California to serve on that court.

A San Diego native, Judge Thomas was drawn to a career in law at a young age. Her mother--a bookkeeper--used to take her to the San Diego courthouse to watch the proceedings. That experience inspired her to pursue a law degree at Yale Law School--which she did after receiving her undergraduate degree from Stanford University with Honors and Distinction.

After law school, Judge Thomas began her legal career as a clerk for Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw on the Ninth Circuit.

She then began an expansive appellate litigation career, initially working at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where she focused on education and issues related to criminal justice.

In 2010, Judge Thomas joined the Justice Department, where she worked as a Senior Attorney in the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division. In this role, she argued appeals on behalf of the United States before multiple U.S. Courts of Appeals--including the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits.

After 5 years at the Justice Department, Judge Thomas went on to work for the Office of the New York Solicitor General, where she served as special counsel. In this role, Judge Thomas argued multiple cases before the Second Circuit and in the State courts of New York.

In 2016, Judge Thomas became the deputy director of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, where she helped enforce State and Federal civil rights laws.

Since 2018, she has served on the Los Angeles County Superior Court-- with the exception of this past summer. In May, the chief justice of the California Supreme Court chose Judge Thomas to serve as judge pro tem on the California Court of Appeals. And she returned to the LA County Superior Court earlier this year.

During her time on the bench, Judge Thomas has handled hundreds of cases that have gone to verdict or judgment, and she has presided over thousands of hearings. As judge pro tem on the California Court of Appeals, she sat on numerous appellate court panels and authored seven opinions, all of which were unanimous.

In short, Judge Thomas has demonstrated that she is a fair, impartial, and evenhanded jurist.

She has extensive experience as a both a trial and appellate court judge. And before her appointment to the bench, she represented a wide range of litigants.

The American Bar Association unanimously rated Judge Thomas as ``Qualified'' to sit on the Ninth Circuit.

And she has the strong support of her home State senators--Senators Feinstein and Padilla.

Additionally, as only the second Black woman to ever serve on the Ninth Circuit, Judge Thomas will help bring much needed diversity to our Federal judiciary.

Given her varied professional background, years of appellate experience, and her accomplishments on the bench, Judge Thomas will be an excellent addition to the Ninth Circuit. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting her nomination.

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me in closing say: I think we should be respectful and try to work with one another and cooperate. That also includes the over 100 nominees sitting on this calendar who have been obstructed by two or three Republican Members for weeks, if not months. If there is going to be fairness, let's make sure that the road travels in both directions.

I yield back all remaining time.

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