Nomination of Gary L. Sharpe to be United States District Judge

NOMINATION OF GARY L. SHARPE TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I am pleased to rise today in support of Gary Sharpe's nomination to be a judge in the Northern District of New York.

Before I discuss Judge Sharpe's impressive qualifications, I wish to make one point to my colleagues.

If my math is right, when Judge Sharpe is confirmed today-and I expect he will be confirmed unanimously because, as my colleagues will see, he is an example of the nominees we get when the process works right-he will be the 170th judicial nominee of President Bush's we will have confirmed.

I note that at the outset because to hear the hue and cry from some on the other side, one would think that we were roadblocking every nominee who comes before us. With this confirmation, the numbers stand at 170 to 5.

That's a record for which the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres would kill. When you win over 97 percent of the time, you are doing pretty darn well.

I won't belabor the point, but it's important to note that this process can work and that it frequently does. The process works when we work together to choose nominees who are excellent, moderate, and diverse-the three criteria I use when evaluating judicial nominees. And Judge Sharpe easily clears that bar.

For the past 6 years, Judge Sharpe has served with distinction as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York. Before taking the bench, he spent his professional career working as one of the best prosecutors Northern New York has ever seen. He spent nearly a decade in state court as a prosecutor from Broome County.

He then went over to Federal court where he was an assistant United States attorney before becoming the U.S. attorney for the Northern District.

Judge Sharpe is a graduate of two fine New York schools, the University of Buffalo which he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa-and Cornell Law. After graduating college, but before heading to law school, Judge Sharpe served in the U.S. Armed Forces as a member of the Naval Reserve. He is also a Vietnam veteran, having served there in the Army from 1966 to 1968.

We have talked to lawyers in the Northern District and they simply rave about Judge Sharpe. One judge upstate said, "He's the best lawyer I've ever known." That's pretty high praise.

I congratulate Judge Sharpe and his wife, Lorraine, on this tremendous honor and achievement. I know Chief Judge Scullin is anxious to have him and that Judge Sharpe is going to be a great addition to the Northern District bench.

Again, Madam President, overall, we are at 170 nominees to 5. We have blocked 5. That is not too many, and those are the most egregious ones.

Second, in New York, we have worked this out. When the administration wants to play ball with Senators, they can fill the bench. In New York, we will have no more vacancies because we have agreed. They have chosen nominees who are conservative but not out of the mainstream, and we have gone along.

Third, Judge Sharpe clearly is an excellent nominee. He is not just average; he is not just above average; he is at the very
top. We talked with lawyers in the Northern District. They say: He is the best lawyer I have ever known.

He is moderate. He deserves to be on the bench. I fully support his nomination and urge my colleagues to do as well.