Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. I thank the chairman, and thank you, Mr. President.
First, I express my gratitude and thanks to the chairman of our Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy. Senator Leahy has conducted his chairmanship, as head of the Judiciary Committee, with fairness and strength and honor, and he has tried to bend over backwards to get our colleagues on the other side of the aisle fair hearings and equality in a certain sense.
I regret that too many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are blocking judges. It is not fair and it is not right. I hope they would heed Senator Leahy's call to avoid tit for tat and bring more judges to the bench.
(Mr. LEAHY assumed the chair.)
Mr. SCHUMER. As I said, I have not seen a chairman--now he is the Presiding Officer of the Senate for the moment--I have not seen a chairman try to be fairer and with more patience and more honor as chair of the Judiciary Committee than Senator Leahy. I hope my colleagues will heed his call because he is trying to be as fair and down the middle as possible at a time when we have a record number of vacancies in too many of our circuits.
I rise today to express my full support for Mae D'Agostino, the nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. I am very hopeful we will confirm her with overwhelming support tonight, and I agree wholeheartedly with Chairman Leahy that we should proceed quickly to confirm the other nominees for the many long vacant seats across the country.
Mae D'Agostino's entire career is a tribute to her skill, her intelligence, and her pioneering spirit. When she is confirmed today, she will be the only woman sitting on the Federal bench in upstate New York, and only the second in the history of the region.
Mae D'Agostino has earned the distinction of being one of the most well respected and revered trial attorneys in the State of New York. When I suggested her name to President Obama, I was amazed--I knew she had a good reputation and, of course, I had interviewed her--I was amazed at the acclaim throughout the entire Northern District that nomination received. Mae D'Agostino's reputation as a fair-minded, honorable, practical lawyer is incredible. I am so glad she is here before us tonight, and I believe, should we confirm her, she will be an outstanding judge. The capital region and the central New York area, as well as the north country, are sort of exultant. That is the word I use to describe Mae's possible ascension to the bench tonight.
She was born in Albany, NY, and graduated summa cum laude from one of the capital region's great institutions, Siena College, and then from Syracuse University School of Law. I would say to the Orange, we did not get into the Sweet Sixteen, but at least Mae D'Agostino is getting on the bench tonight. Right from the get-go, Mae established herself in private practice as a gifted and hard-working trial lawyer, taking cases ranging from medical malpractice to negligence to labor disputes.
She formed her own firm, D'Agostino, Krackeler, Maguire & Cardona in 1997, and has remained at the pinnacle of our State's legal profession ever since.
Along the way, she was inducted into the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers, and she has won awards that are too numerous to list in full for her service to her alma maters, the community, and for her position as a role model for other women in the profession.
In 1992, Mae D'Agostino helped to organize an experimental program in which the Albany County court instructed parties in 420 cases to reach a settlement agreement or prepare for trial. The program resulted in 50 negotiators settling over 150 pending cases. This is exactly the kind of dedication and creativity we need from our judges.
I have always said that my three criteria in choosing people to recommend for judgeships are excellence, moderation, and diversity, and Mae fits all three of those to a T.
It is particularly fitting that Mae D'Agostino, a groundbreaking nominee of such impeccable judgment and intelligence, is the first of President Obama's new nominees to receive a confirmation vote this Congress. I hope and expect that as the Judiciary Committee moves through nominees under the leadership of Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Grassley, we will be able to approve many more of them quickly.
We have the best and fairest judicial system in the world, but it depends on good judges to populate the bench. Especially when one in nine spots is vacant--let me repeat that: one in nine spots is now vacant--nominees with bipartisan support should not languish on the floor of the Senate.
Mae D'Agostino's confirmation is a big step in the right direction, and we all must work to make sure there are many more to follow.
This is a great day for Mae and her family, for the State of New York, and for our great Nation.
Thank you. Before suggesting the absence of a quorum, I ask unanimous consent that the time be equally divided between both sides of the aisle.
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