Nomination of Pamela K. Hamamoto to be Representative of the United States of America to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva with the Rank of Ambassador
Floor Speech
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Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Madam President, I am pleased to recommend to the Senate James D. Peterson to be the U.S. district judge for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Jim has deep roots in Wisconsin, having earned a bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison before his first career as an associate professor of film studies at Notre Dame University. After a number of productive and successful years of academic life, his restlessness for intellectual challenge was energized when his wife Sue Collins interested him in the law as she was teaching legal writing at Valparaiso University Law School. They both returned to Wisconsin, where they each obtained their law degrees from the university.
Jim is currently the leader of the law firm Godfrey & Kahn's Intellectual Property Litigation Working Group and has handled a wide variety of commercial and constitutional disputes. He has served as a local counsel in two dozen patent disputes in the Western District of Wisconsin. In addition, he has appeared before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears appeals of patent cases from district courts across the country.
This experience is important for the Western District of Wisconsin, which oversees many complex intellectual property cases. Since 2007 the Western District of Wisconsin has ranked among the top 25 most popular for patent litigation, largely due to the court's speed--commonly referred to as the ``rocket docket.''
Jim is also the author of numerous academic publications, many of which I had an opportunity to review during his application process. Right after law school he saw firsthand the challenges and requirements associated with being a judge when he served as a law clerk to Hon. David G. Deininger of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. He has had a challenging and successful career as a legal practitioner. I have no doubt that he will, as a Federal district court judge, excel in yet another career for which he is well suited.
Jim has my full support, and I am happy to recommend him to the Senate for swift confirmation.
I would like to conclude by thanking my colleague Senator Baldwin for the bipartisan process that resulted in the selection of this well-qualified jurist who will serve Wisconsin's Western District well.
The Western District is currently facing a judicial emergency. U.S. district judge Barbara Crabb has continued to serve on the bench despite retiring 4 years ago, and I sincerely appreciate her dedication in the State of Wisconsin during this vacancy.
I have full confidence that with Jim's expertise and experience, he will now be able to fill this void.
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