Nomination of Jacob J. Lew, of New York, to be United States Governor of International Monetary Fund; United States Governor of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development; United States Governor of the Inter-Governor of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that cloture on Calendar No. 63 be withdrawn and that the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination; that the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the cloture vote on the Watt nomination occur immediately following the swearing in of Senator-elect Booker, of New Jersey, tomorrow, and the Senate proceed to legislative session and a period of
morning business for debate only, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, before I make these remarks, let me join in thanking the Senator from New Jersey. Although his tenure in the Senate was brief, he was here during a very exciting and interesting time in American political history. We thank him for his service on behalf of New Jersey and wish him the very best in his future endeavors.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the President has nominated three extraordinarily well-qualified Americans--appellate lawyer Patricia Millett, Georgetown Law professor Nina Pillard and DC District Judge Robert Wilkins--to serve on the DC Circuit, the second most important court in the Nation. The DC Circuit currently has 8 active judges out of 11 authorized judgeships.

These nominees should be given an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

Patricia Millett is the first nominee up for consideration. Ms. Millett, who is currently in private practice, is recognized as one of the leading appellate lawyers in the country.

She has argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court and dozens more in other appellate courts.

Ms. Millett served in the Solicitor General's office under both Democratic and Republican presidents. Seven former Solicitors General--including prominent Republicans Paul Clement, Ted Olson and Ken Starr--sent a letter in support of Ms. Millett saying she ``has a brilliant mind, a gift for clear, persuasive writing, and a genuine zeal for the rule of law. Equally important, she is unfailingly fair-minded.''

At her hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, no Senator questioned Ms. Millett's qualifications or fitness for the Federal bench. She is simply an outstanding nominee.

Let me tell you why I have a personal interest in her nomination.

Ms. Millett is also a proud daughter of Illinois. She grew up in Marine, a small town in the southern part of the State that I know well. Her mother was a nurse and her father was a history professor at Southern Illinois University--Edwardsville, one of my favorite campuses.

Ms. Millett graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. She clerked for two years for Judge Thomas Tang on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

She is part of a military family. Her husband, Robert King, served in the Navy and was deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Ms. Millett also comes highly recommended by distinguished members of the Illinois legal community.

I received a letter from Patrick Fitzgerald, the former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, expressing ``strong support'' for Ms. Millett's nomination and urging ``prompt consideration of her candidacy on the merits.''

I also received a letter from 28 prominent attorneys including former Illinois Governor James Thompson, a Republican, and current Illinois State Bar Association president Paula Holderman.

They expressed their strong support for Ms. Millett, saying that: she embodies the evenhandedness, impartiality, and objectivity required for the Federal judiciary, as evidenced by her more than 10 years of service in the Solicitor General's office in both the Clinton and Bush administrations.

The bottom line is that Ms. Millett is an outstanding nominee with broad support from across the ideological spectrum. There is no question that she is well-qualified to serve on the bench, and she will serve with distinction.

I urge my colleagues to give her a chance with an up-or-down vote. She does not deserve to have her nomination filibustered. If there is anyone who can step forward and question this nominee's qualifications, they should do so. They have not to date.

Some of my Republican colleagues have accused the President of trying to ``pack'' the DC Circuit by making nominations to fill the outstanding vacancies in that court. This argument is simply not credible. Filling vacancies for existing judgeships is not court packing. These judgeships are authorized by law, and it is incumbent upon the President to nominate qualified candidates to fill them.

Others across the aisle have argued that the DC Circuit does not have a high enough caseload--there are just not enough cases--to justify a full complement of 11 judges. I note that these same Republican Senators did not make that argument in 2005 when the Senate confirmed Janice Rogers Brown and Thomas Griffith to the 10th and 11th judgeships on the DC Circuit. When the Senate confirmed the 10th and 11th judgeships in the DC Circuit in 2005, they were the choices of the Republican side of the aisle, even though these confirmations, which we approved, reduced the Court's workload to fewer cases per active judge than what we would see if President Obama's nominees were confirmed.

On April 5, the Judicial Conference of the United States, which is led by Chief Justice John Roberts, made its Federal judgeship recommendations for the 113th Congress. The Judicial Conference is nonpartisan, and according to its letter, its recommendations ``reflect the judgeship needs of the Federal judiciary.'' The Judicial Conference did not recommend stripping any judgeships from the DC Circuit. So this argument on the other side of the aisle finds no support in the non-partisan Judicial Conference's recommendations.

My Republican colleagues like to argue about workload statistics when it comes to the DC Circuit, but according to the Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler, who I have come to know, ``The voluminous and detailed statistics on the appeals courts allows each side to pick and choose the stats that support their position.''

Republicans may claim the DC Circuit's workload is too light, but in the Washington Post Mr. Kessler points out that by some metrics, the DC Circuit ``could be very well in first place'' when it comes to workload.

I also note that one of my Republican colleagues came to the floor today and explained his opposition to Ms. Millett's nomination. In doing so he cited a letter that the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats sent in 2006 seeking a hearing postponement on Peter Keisler, who was nominated to fill the 11th seat on the DC Circuit. I would like to point out that this letter dealt with filling the 11th seat on the DC Circuit. Ms. Millett is seeking the 9th seat. I also wish to point out that the Senate had already voted to confirm a nominee to be the 11th judge on the DC Circuit, Thomas Griffith, just 1 year before this 2006 letter. I voted for Mr. Griffith on the floor.

The bottom line is that these judicial vacancies currently exist, it is the President's job to nominate qualified men and women to fill them, and there is no question that the President's nominee for this position, Patricia Millett, is one of the most well-qualified persons he could have found to fill this important position. No one comes forward to criticize her background and her resume because, frankly, it is hard to find a nominee with any stronger credentials for the Federal bench.

Let's not play political games with this important nomination, nor with people such as Patricia Millett, who have put their names forward, have gone through this process, and have waited for us politicians to work our will on the floor. She deserves an up-or-down vote.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the letter from Illinois lawyers supporting Patricia Millett for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit as well as the letter, dated October 24, from former U.S. attorney for the Northern District Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source