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Floor Speech

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Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I rise today in support of Magistrate Judge Robert Ballou of Virginia, nominee to be U.S. district judge for the Western District of Virginia. In about 10 minutes, we will move into a cloture vote to advance his nomination, and I am proud to stand in support of this great jurist.

Judge Ballou has deep and abiding ties to the Commonwealth. He was born in Roanoke, VA, just like my wife, and he graduated from the University of Virginia and then from UVA Law School.

Other than a judicial clerkship for the late Judge Peter Beer on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Judge Ballou has spent his entire 35-year legal career in Virginia. Following that clerkship, Judge Ballou worked in private practice in both Richmond and Roanoke from 1988 through 2011. He built a successful civil litigation practice, and he regularly appeared in State and Federal courts.

Judge Ballou became a U.S. magistrate judge for the Western District of Virginia in 2011. Madam President is a lawyer and, I know, understands the role that magistrates play in the Federal court system. First, they usually have to go through a fairly rigorous application process where they are chosen by the sitting article 3 judges in the court to serve in the magistrate's role. And, second, once they are on, they have a wide variety of responsibilities in criminal procedure, in pretrial practice in civil cases, in mediations to try to help litigants find a path forward without the need for trials.

Judge Ballou is extremely well-regarded for his 12-year service as a magistrate judge. And one of the things that being a magistrate gets you is it gets you the opportunity to be before so many litigants and practitioners in the court--in this case, the Western District of Virginia--that, when you are up for consideration for a judgeship, there are a whole lot of reviews out there about whether or not you have got the judicial temperament, the work ethic, the fairness to be a good article 3 judge.

In over a decade as a magistrate, Judge Ballou has developed a sterling reputation on the bench. He is well-known. He is respected in the Western District of Virginia for running his courtroom in a fair and efficient manner while ensuring that all parties, even low-income people who might be unrepresented--often there are pro se cases before Federal courts--all parties are respected and heard.

The American Bar Association unanimously granted to Judge Ballou its highest rating of ``Well Qualified'' for this nomination.

Judge Ballou enjoys broad and deep support across the Virginia legal community. For example, former U.S. attorneys for the Western District of Virginia, who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations for the last 20 years, wrote that Judge Ballou ``enjoys the highest reputation in the legal community for his intelligence, thoughtfulness, and preparation. Judge Ballou has consistently displayed the temperament, character and work ethic necessary to make an outstanding judge.''

The observation is echoed in the letters of support from civil and criminal attorneys practicing in the Western District of Virginia, representing a wide range of litigants.

One other thing that I just want to say about Judge Ballou that impressed me: This is the second time that Senator Warner and I, following a process that we use where we pull together lawyers from the district to interview candidates--it is the second time we have recommended him to the White House for a nomination to be an article 3 judge.

The first time, the White House went a different direction. Sometimes that happens, and people say: OK, well, I am not interested anymore.

I give credit to Judge Ballou that, after we recommended him--and you recommend multiple candidates, and not everybody gets it--he hung in there. That has been the case with some of the other nominees that Senator Warner and I have recommended. The ones that hang in there and who eventually get to the bench do a great job, and I am absolutely convinced that Judge Ballou, who received wide bipartisan support in the Judiciary Committee when he was up before the committee--I am absolutely confident he is going to do a great job in this position.

I urge my colleagues to confirm him.
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