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Floor Speech

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Mr. BENNET. Madam President, I wanted to share a few words about Nina Wang, President Biden's nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

Judge Wang comes to this floor with a commitment to the law rooted in her earliest moments as a child, her earliest memories as a child. Nina's family emigrated from Taiwan to Kansas City when she was just 2 years old. Like my grandparents who emigrated from Poland, Nina's parents had very strong accents. They knew English, but people in their Kansas suburb couldn't always understand what they were saying. Some of Nina's first memories were ordering pizza for the family or speaking to store clerks on behalf of her parents.

Her family applied to become permanent residents, but the INS lost their application. Then, once they resolved that issue, the law had changed, and their pathway to legalization was gone. Their family spent years in legal limbo, ricocheting from one court to another. And if not for an intervention by late Senator Robert Dole, Nina's family would have fallen through the cracks.

At the time, Nina made a promise: If I can stay in America, I am going to give back to America. This experience gave Nina firsthand knowledge of the legal system's power to change lives because it changed her own. It made her cherish America's legal system, where even noncitizens have their day in court, and it inspired her to pursue a career in law.

She graduated from Washington University summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and served as editor- in-chief of the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. After graduating, Nina worked as an associate at an international law firm and clerked in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado recognized Nina's talents and hired her as an AUSA in the Civil Division, where she managed Federal cases ranging from employment discrimination to bankruptcy, to civil rights.

Nina then went into the private sector, where, over the next decade, she rose from associate to partner at Faegre Drinker, a top firm in Denver.

In 2015, Nina began serving as a magistrate judge for the U.S. district court in Colorado.

Judge Wang now comes to the committee and this floor with 25 years of legal experience and exposure to virtually every issue that might come before the court. She also comes with a reputation for fairness and impartiality. Her colleagues tell me she doesn't grandstand. She takes the time to listen to every litigant, whether they have representation or not.

She has remained committed to the American ideal that everyone deserves their day in court, just like her parents. And I, for one, am deeply grateful that she has devoted her talent to realizing that ideal in our legal system.

Judge Wang is an exceptional nominee, with unimpeachable character, intellect, and experience. Our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee appreciated that about her. That is why they sent her to this floor with a strong bipartisan vote of 14 to 8.

I enthusiastically endorse her nomination and urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to confirm this outstanding Colorado nominee for our district court.

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