Judicial Nominations

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this week, the Senate will consider 12 outstanding judicial nominees. These nominees represent the continued efforts of President Biden and Senate Democrats to bring much-needed professional and demographic diversity to the Federal bench.

This latest lineup of nominees include legal academics, public defenders, civil rights lawyers, sitting State and Federal judges, prosecutors, and private practitioners. Each of these nominees has the character, temperament, and qualifications to serve with distinction.

The first nominee is Judge Jacqueline Corley, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

For more than a decade, Judge Corley has served as a Federal magistrate judge in the Northern District of California. She has handled cases implicating a variety of complex statutory and constitutional questions, from immigration to employment to national security matters. And in her time on the bench, she has amassed a record that reflects her evenhanded, impartial approach to the law. Earlier in her career, Judge Corley spent nearly two decades working in private legal practice and as a career law clerk to Judge Charles Breyer, who also serves on the Northern District of California.

Judge Corley received a unanimous rating of ``Well Qualified'' from the American Bar Association, has the strong support of Senators Feinstein and Padilla, and received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Judiciary Committee.

Next, we have Fred Slaughter, who has been nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Judge Slaughter currently serves as a judge on the California Superior Court for Orange County. In 2014, Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to this position, and since then, Judge Slaughter has presided over a wide variety of cases, including civil cases, felony criminal cases, and juvenile justice proceedings. After graduating from the UCLA School of Law, he started his career as a deputy city attorney with the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, before moving to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. He prosecuted a wide range of cases and developed a deep understanding of the district to which he has been nominated.

Judge Slaughter has the strong support of both his home-State Senators, Mrs. Feinstein and Mr. Padilla, and he was rated unanimously ``Well Qualified'' by the American Bar Association. His deep commitment to public service, coupled with his broad experience, makes him an excellent nominee to the Federal bench.

The Senate will also consider the nomination of Ruth Montenegro to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Since 2018, Judge Montenegro has served as a U.S. magistrate judge in the Southern District of California. Prior to that, she served as a State court judge. With her combined experience on federal and State courts, Judge Montenegro has been on the bench for nearly 8 years. She has presided over thousands of cases, including more than 30 jury trials and over 100 bench trials.

Judge Montenegro was unanimously rated ``Qualified'' by the American Bar Association, and both Senators Feinstein and Padilla strongly support her nomination. A graduate of UCLA School of Law, Judge Montenegro worked as an attorney for more than 19 years before assuming the bench.

Judge Montenegro is also the child of immigrants and a first- generation college graduate. Throughout her career, she has made it a priority to give back to the community. In 2018, she served as chair of the California Bar Foundation's scholarship committee, and, for many years, she served as president and chair of the scholarships committee for the El Centro Education Foundation.

Judge Montenegro was voted out of the Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to support her nomination.

Next is Victoria Calvert, nominated to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Ms. Calvert is a highly experienced litigator with a proven commitment to ensuring equal justice for all.

Ms. Calvert attended Duke University and received her law degree from the New York University School of Law. She then spent 6 years working in private practice before dedicating her career to public service. Currently, she serves as a staff attorney with the Federal defender program in the Northern District of Georgia, a position she has held since 2012. In this role, she has represented hundreds of indigent clients. Ms. Calvert has the strong support of her home-State Senators, Mr. Ossoff and Mr. Warnock. And she received a unanimous ``Well Qualified'' rating from the ABA.

I have said many times that public defenders are vastly underrepresented on our Nation's courts, and I believe that Ms. Calvert will bring a valuable perspective to the bench, including an appreciation for the real world impact of judicial decisionmaking.

We also will be considering the nomination of Julie Rubin, who has been selected to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

For the past 8 years, she has served as an associate judge on the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. In this role, Judge Rubin has presided over nearly 950 civil and criminal cases that have gone to verdict or judgment, including 122 jury trials.

Prior to assuming the bench, Judge Rubin spent 15 years litigating in private practice and tried 17 cases to verdict or judgment. She also rose to become the vice president of her firm. Judge Rubin received her undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College and her law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. And she received a unanimous ``Well Qualified'' rating from the American Bar Association.

Judge Rubin has the strong support of her home State Senators, Mr. Cardin and Mr. Van Hollen. She also received bipartisan support in the Judiciary Committee. As a native Marylander with a wealth of trial experience on and off the bench, Judge Rubin will make an excellent addition to the District Court.

Next we have Hector Gonzalez, nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Gonzalez is an accomplished litigator. Over the course of his career, he has tried more than 20 civil and criminal cases, the majority of them as chief counsel. Mr. Gonzalez served as a prosecutor for almost 10 years, serving in both the Manhattan District Attorney's Office as well as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. In addition to the criminal law expertise he developed as a prosecutor, Mr. Gonzalez has also gained considerable civil litigation experience, managing complex litigation matters involving bankruptcy, antitrust, and professional liability.

In recognition of his long career as an accomplished litigator, Mr. Gonzalez was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Trial Lawyers. The ABA found him unanimously ``Well Qualified.'' In addition, he has the strong support of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand.

Next we have John Chun, who has been nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Judge Chun has served on Washington State courts for the past 7 years, first as a judge on the King County Superior Court and currently as a judge on the Washington Court of Appeals. Throughout his time on the bench, he has presided over 90 civil and criminal cases that have gone to verdict or judgment. These cases have been almost evenly split between jury and bench trials.

Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Chun spent 10 years as a commercial and employment litigation attorney. Practicing in both Federal and State court, he tried five cases to verdict or judgment and became partner at his firm in just 6 years. Judge Chun received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his law degree from Cornell Law School. He then began his legal career by clerking for the Honorable Eugene A. Wright on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Judge Chun has the strong support of Senators Murray and Cantwell. He received a bipartisan vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. He also received a unanimous ``Well Qualified'' rating from the American Bar Association. Judge Chun's demonstrable commitment to justice and the rule of law will serve him well as a district court judge.

Next is Sarah Geraghty, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Since 2003, Ms. Geraghty has been an attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights, where she has advocated for the fair and equal treatment of people in the criminal legal system, regardless of their ability to afford counsel. Ms. Geraghty has approximately 20 years of litigation experience, during which time she has handled every stage of the legal process, from pretrial investigations to briefing and arguing appeals.

Ms. Geraghty has been widely recognized for her work. In 2020, she was named Attorney of the Year by Georgia's primary legal publication, the Fulton County ``Daily Report''. In 2017, Emory University School of Law's public interest committee gave Ms. Geraghty its Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need Award. Ms. Geraghty was rated ``Qualified'' by the American Bar Association, and both Senator Ossoff and Senator Warnock strongly support her nomination.

In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Geraghty is a lecturer at Emory Law School and a part-time instructor at Georgia State University College of Law. Ms. Geraghty has received numerous letters of support, including from law enforcement officials and attorneys who have opposed her in litigation. These letters demonstrate that Ms. Geraghty's approach to resolving legal disputes has always been, as one letter put it,``collaborative rather than confrontational.'' Another letter stated that she has always ``approached conflicts between the parties with flexibility and an open mind.'' These qualities will serve her well on the bench. Ms. Geraghty received bipartisan support in the Judiciary Committee. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of her nomination.

We will also consider Georgette Castner, who has been nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

She is an experienced litigator with a deep knowledge of the District of New Jersey. A graduate of the College of New Jersey and Rutgers Law School, Ms. Castner has spent almost 15 years in private practice, representing a range of individual and corporate clients. Over the course of her career, she has litigated matters spanning various areas of civil and criminal law.

Ms. Castner received a ``Qualified'' rating from the ABA and has the strong support of her home-State Senators, Mr. Booker and Mr. Menendez.

Next is Judge Cristina Silva, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

Judge Silva currently serves on Nevada's Eighth Judicial District Court, where she handles a mix of civil and criminal proceedings. In her time on the bench, Judge Silva has presided over 15 trials, the vast majority of which were jury trials. She has also remained active in the local legal community, including through service on the board of directors of the Nevada Latino Bar Association.

Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Silva served as both a local and Federal prosecutor. She helped lead the domestic violence unit of the Miami- Dade State's Attorney's Office and then served for nearly a decade as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Nevada, ultimately becoming the chief of that office's criminal division. Judge Silva received a unanimous rating of ``Well Qualified'' from the ABA and has the strong support of Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen.

We also will be considering the nomination of Anne Traum, who has likewise been chosen to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

Professor Traum is currently a professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law, a position she has held since 2014, and associate dean for experiential legal education. Her commitment to the university is admirable: She founded, and now leads, the appellate clinic, which allows students to brief and argue cases before the Ninth Circuit or the Nevada Supreme Court.

Additionally, she took 1-year leave of absence from the university from 2015 to 2016 to serve as special counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Access to Justice. The breadth of her career does not stop there, though. She was an assistant federal public defender in the Federal public defender's office in Las Vegas from 2002 to 2008 and, prior to that, served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada from 2000 to 2002.

Professor Traum has the strong support of her home-State Senators, Ms. Cortez Masto and Ms. Rosen, and was rated ``Well Qualified'' by the American Bar Association.

Finally, we will be considering Judge Alison Nathan, who has been nominated to serve on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Nathan is an experienced litigator and an accomplished jurist. She has served on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York since 2012. While on the bench, she has authored over 1,500 opinions and has presided over 45 trials that have gone to verdict or judgment. With that long record, her reversal rate is an impressive 1 percent. I have no doubt that she will be a valuable addition to the Second Circuit. After attending Cornell University and Cornell Law School, Judge Nathan clerked for Judge Betty B. Fletcher on the Ninth Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. From there, she began her legal practice, where she specialized in civil litigation and developed a large pro bono practice focused on LGBTQ rights and appeals for inmates on death row. She also held positions in government and academia.

Judge Nathan has the strong support of Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand, and she was unanimously rated ``Well Qualified'' by the American Bar Association. Her record on the bench is deeply impressive. She has proven, without a doubt, that she understands the difference between a policy advocate and a judge, and I am certain that she will continue to administer justice in a thoughtful, evenhanded manner.

I support all of these outstanding nominees and encourage my colleagues to join me in voting for their confirmation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source