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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, as we are now in December and the year is winding down, I am reflecting on one of the first actions, one of the first decisions I made when I joined the Senate back in January, and that was a decision to establish a judicial evaluation commission with folks back in California, professionals who would help me find, vet, and recommend candidates to President Biden to serve on California's Federal courts.

Usually when the general public thinks about Federal courts, they tend to only think about the Supreme Court, but, as those who work in this body know, the vast majority of Federal cases--indeed, more than 99 percent of all Federal cases--are decided at the district court or circuit court level. So, as we go about our work to strengthen the justice system in America, I think it is important that we give proper attention and support to district and circuit courts.

Fast-forward to today and the items that we are working on literally as we speak. Nominees to every level of the Federal judiciary by the prior administration--let me put it mildly here. We are far from diverse, far from representative of our Nation, and as a result, the Federal courts and those who sit on the Federal bench do not reflect the diverse, vibrant America that it serves. And I am not just talking about gender. I am not just talking about race and ethnicity. For too long, the bench of our Federal courts has been dominated by corporate lawyers and former prosecutors.

Now, prosecutors and corporate lawyers do contribute valuable and important expertise to the Federal judiciary. That is why I have supported the nomination of some this year. But the judiciary also needs the knowledge and perspective of legal professionals who have taken different paths. I am talking about public defenders, who uphold our constitutional commitment that every person deserves fair representation and due process. I am talking about public interest lawyers, who defend fundamental rights and the rule of law. I am talking about consumer and voting rights lawyers, labor and immigration lawyers, and local government lawyers, who serve diverse clients and advocate for different interests and bring critical insights on how working-class Americans interact with the law.

We need all these perspectives in order to rebalance our Federal courts and hopefully in the process rebuild and reaffirm public confidence in the fairness of their rulings. Our country is stronger and fairer when every level of our government reflects the voices and the experiences of all Americans--not just the privileged, not just the powerful.

A Federal bench that includes more voices can better provide justice for all. That is why, over the course of the past year, I have worked with my commission that I established back in January--which, by the way, is 70 percent attorneys of color and a majority women, and I am proud to share that--along with Senator Feinstein and President Biden, to find, to nominate, and to support a new generation of qualified, outstanding, and professionally diverse Federal judges--a Federal bench that is diverse in every sense of the word.

As a result of these efforts and pending confirmation votes that I hope will soon occur, I am so proud that California's district court bench will soon include Maame Frimpong, a proud daughter and wife of immigrants from Ghana, who used her law degree to fight for consumers and strengthen global democracy.

It will soon include Judge Jennifer Thurston, who earned her law degree as a night student while raising a family and spent a decade serving in county government.

It will soon include Judge Jinsook Ohta, an immigrant from South Korea, who spent nearly 10 years of her career helping to prosecute unfair business practices and to protect consumers from fraud.

It will soon include Judge Linda Lopez, who spent more than 10 years as a public defender in San Diego.

It will soon include Judge Hernan Vera, the son of Argentine immigrants, who spent a decade fighting for the disadvantaged and leading the Nation's largest pro bono law firm.

In addition, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals now includes Judge Lucy Koh, whom we recently confirmed, an expert litigator of intellectual property cases and the first Korean-American woman to serve on the Federal circuit court.

The Ninth Circuit will also soon include Justice Gabriel Sanchez, the proud son of a single mother from Mexico, who has earned wide recognition as a public servant and an appellate judge on California's court of appeal.

It will soon include Judge Holly Thomas, the granddaughter of sharecroppers, who has made a career of fighting for the civil rights of all Americans.

I celebrate each of these outstanding nominees, and I thank them for their service to this country. I urge their swift confirmation.

Now, of course, we will still have a long way to go and much more work to do, but these confirmations, colleagues, represent a big step in the right direction.

I am proud of the work we have done so far to diversify the Federal bench, and I am committed to keeping up the momentum that we have started in that critical mission in 2022.

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