Nominations of Joshua D. Dunlap and Eric Chunyee Tung

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, if I may continue, I want to speak about a couple of judges that will be before us this week. We will be voting on a pair of highly qualified circuit court nominations.

Despite the ongoing Democratic government shutdown, the Senate Judiciary Committee remains hard at work. We are continuing to hold hearings. We are continuing to advance strong judicial nominees, like the two that I am about to alert my colleagues to.

The first is Joshua Dunlap, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The second is Eric Tung for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Both will make fantastic circuit judges, and I urge my colleagues to vote for them.

As Maine Senator Collins detailed last week, Mr. Dunlap graduated first in his class from the University of Notre Dame Law School and then served as a clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Since then, he has earned a stellar reputation as an appellate litigator, throughout his decade-and-a-half tenure in private practice of law.

Mr. Dunlap noted, during his confirmation hearing, that Mainers-- meaning residents of the State of Maine--I will start that quote over again:

Mainers are famously independent.

I am confident that we can expect no less from him as a fair and impartial judge. Indeed, Mr. Dunlap's career demonstrates that he is a thoughtful and sharp lawyer committed to the rule of law, and, in his own words, he believes ``the law should be available to all and applied fairly to every litigant.''

For these reasons, he has earned widespread support, including from his law school, his coclerks, and his law firm colleagues.

I am confident that Mr. Dunlap will make an outstanding judge on the First Circuit. I also trust he will take great pride in serving his State and our Nation.

President Trump and Senator Collins made an outstanding choice in Mr. Dunlap.

Eric Tung is another great selection. He completed his undergraduate degree at Yale and graduated with high honors at the University of Chicago Law School. He clerked for Justice Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court, and he also clerked for Justice Gorsuch, both during his tenure on the Tenth Circuit and upon Justice Gorsuch's elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Tung was a Bristow fellow in the Justice Department's Office of Solicitor General, where he worked on numerous cases before the Nation's highest Court.

During President Trump's first administration, he also worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California. As a Federal prosecutor, Mr. Tung handled a broad array of criminal matters, including firearm offenses, drug trafficking, and fraud.

In recent years, Mr. Tung has focused on civil litigation and appeals in private practice. He was appointed by the chief justice of the California Supreme Court to serve as the sole civil appellate practitioner on the Appellate Indigent Defense Oversight Advisory Committee.

In every facet, Mr. Tung has been an outstanding appellate lawyer. Based on his stellar credentials and his stellar reputation, it is no surprise that his nomination is supported by his law firm colleagues and the various coclerks that he has worked with at the Tenth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Like Mr. Dunlap, I believe Mr. Tung will make a phenomenal judge and serve this Nation honorably and with distinction. I encourage my colleagues to support both of these fine circuit court nominees.

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