Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I wish to join my colleague, Senator Hutchison, in commending to our colleagues the nomination of Judge Diana Saldana of Laredo, TX, who has been nominated, as we have heard, to be a U.S. district judge in the Southern District of Texas. This is a busy docket, as one can imagine, being right on the U.S.-Mexico border, with the unfortunate drug-trafficking and immigration-related cases and the like. So this is a very important nomination. I hope my colleagues will join us in confirming her nomination.

Senator Hutchison and I, as do many Senators, have a bipartisan committee of lawyers in the State--people who are very respected in the legal community who screen the people who apply for these positions, recognizing the importance of them and that they are lifetime appointments. We do our very best to make this a depoliticized process, believing that whether one is a good judge doesn't depend on whether one is a Republican or an Independent or Democrat as long as one is always willing to enforce the law and not impose one's own personal beliefs or any other type of agenda.

Diana Saldana really represents the manifestation of the American dream. I had the opportunity to introduce her at the hearing she had before the Judiciary Committee, along with her wonderful family. Throughout the process, the more I learned about Diana's personal story, the more I grew to admire not only all she has accomplished but what she stands for in terms of our national guarantee that if you come to America, if you work hard, if you make the most of your God-given gifts, you can achieve anything. Judge Saldana represents that dream.

At the age of 10, she began traveling with her parents and siblings from her home in Carrizo Springs to Minnesota and North Dakota to work as migrant farmers in the soybean, sugar beet, and potato fields. Because of the seasonal nature of migrant farm work, Diana and her siblings would often leave South Texas before the school year ended and return after the next school year had begun. Of course, one can imagine how tough that is on a young student. She traveled 1,500 miles north and worked with her family in the fields every summer through high school and college, and she even worked in the fields during her first year of law school as well.

Despite these challenges, Diana rose to the occasion, and she succeeded in becoming the first person in her family to get a college degree. She recalls that while working as a migrant farmer, her mother told her that an education was the only way out of doing manual labor, and indeed she learned that lesson very well.

She was once asked what person had the greatest impact on her, and she said, as many of us might answer, her mother. She said:

My mother has a third grade education, but she was able to raise six children by working hard and having a deep faith in God ..... I remember her working up to three jobs at a time, taking naps in the family car, when our finances were especially tight, to make ends meet ..... My mother instilled in us a strong work ethic and encouraged us to dream for a better life.

Today, Judge Saldana doesn't just receive the gifts she has gotten as being the child of a hard-working and dedicated and sacrificing mother, she has turned it around and become a mentor to young people herself, using her own story as an inspiration to others and saying: If I worked hard and I was successful, you can, too, even as improbable as that may seem at the time.

I could go on and on about Judge Saldana because her life story is truly remarkable and quite an inspiration, but I will conclude with this: Diana Saldana has been nominated to fill the vacancy left by her own mentor, Judge George Kazen, who is taking senior status. Judge Kazen knows Diana better than just about anybody, other than her family. She served as his law clerk, appeared before him as a Federal prosecutor, and presided over many cases as a Federal magistrate judge. Judge Kazen described Diana as ``one of the finest law clerks'' he ever had and a ``tough, no-nonsense prosecutor.'' He called her the ``quintessential judge--intelligent, hard-working, fair, honest, and decisive.'' Finally, Judge Kazen told us it would be his ``personal honor'' if Judge Saldana was confirmed as his successor. I can't think of any higher praise.

In just a few minutes, the Senate will confirm Diana Saldana as a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Texas. I know I speak for many Texans when I say we could not be more proud.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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