U.S. SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY

Today we vote on the nomination of Virginia Hopkins to the Northern District of Alabama.  Ms. Hopkins has been an attorney at the firm Campbell & Hopkins in Alabama, and has the support of both of her home-state Senators.  In particular, Senator Shelby deserves praise for diligently pressing forward and this confirmation rewards his constant attention to this nomination.  Senator Shelby has always been a pleasure with whom to work, whether I was serving as Chairman or Ranking Member.  Senator Shelby has always been someone who plays it straight and shows good judgment.  He is fair and forthright.   

I must note that since May 18^th, the date of the agreement on judicial confirmations this year involving Senator Daschle, Senator Frist and the White House, the Senate has confirmed seven judges, including two circuit court nominees.  We confirmed Marcia Cooke to the district court in Florida, Judge Van Antwerpen to the Third Circuit in Pennsylvania, and Ray Gruender to the Eighth Circuit the first week of that agreement.  The following week, the Senate confirmed the nominations of Dennis Saylor, Sandra Townes, Ken Karas, and Judith Herrera to the federal district courts. 

Last week, the Republican leadership did not schedule any judicial nominations for a vote and considered other business during that shortened work week.  In the month since the agreement to have a floor vote on 25 judicial nominees, the Republicans have asked for votes on only seven judicial nominees and have scheduled debate on a variety matters other than judicial nominees.  That is their choice.  The Republican leadership knows that some of the remaining nominees in the agreement for votes this year require significant time for debate. 

I do not want to see the Democrats blamed for any delay in confirmation votes when Republicans have been advised for weeks now that it is going to take time for the Senate to process all of the nominees in the agreement.  Members of the Senate deserve time to consider the merits of the nominees for lifetime positions.  Democrats have been working cooperatively on judges but it the Republican leadership has not worked with us to schedule the debate and votes on the many remaining judicial nominees that we had hoped could be considered before the June 25.  After today’s three votes, 15 judicial nominees remain to be scheduled for debates and votes.   I hope that we can make progress on more nominees this week and next.  At the pace the Republican leadership has chosen to proceed, there is now a strong likelihood that debate and votes on some of these judicial nominees will extend past June 25. 

On the occasion of the confirmation of this Alabama nominee, I would note that some in the Senate have falsely alleged that Democratic Senators have treated Southern nominees unfairly.  Some extreme partisans tried to divide the American people for partisan political gain with their false accusations against Democratic Senators.  The truth is that Democrats have treated judicial nominees from the South very fairly: Southern states comprise about 25 percent of the States in the Nation, yet out of the 181 judicial nominees of President Bush that we have confirmed as of this vote, 59 nominees, or one-third of the confirmed nominees, have been to judicial seats in the South.  In particular, I would note that six of President Bush’s judicial nominees have already been confirmed to United States District Courts in Alabama since he took office: Judge Karon Bowdre (Northern District), Judge Callie Granade (Southern District), Judge Mark Everett Fuller (Middle District), Judge L. Scott Coogler (Northern District), Judge R. David Proctor (Northern District), and Judge William Steele (Southern District).   Judge Steele, as you may recall, was initially nominated by President Bush to the Eleventh Circuit, but President Bush pulled down the elevation of this then-U.S. Magistrate Judge in order to put forward the even more controversial William Pryor, who was recess appointed earlier this year despite the serious objections of numerous Senators.  Recent news articles about Judge Pryor’s actions on the bench have only underscored the concerns of many that he lacks the political independence and fairness to serve as a judge.    

Ms. Hopkins received a partial ‘Not Qualified’ rating from the American Bar Association.  Following the White House’s exclusion of the ABA from reviewing judicial candidates before they have the President’s stamp of approval, a dismaying number of this President’s nominees have received ‘Not Qualified’ ratings. Indeed, four of his nominees were rated ‘Not Qualified’ by a majority of the ABA rating committee, and 24 -- more than 10 percent -- were rated ‘Not Qualified’ by some members of the ABA’s standing committee.

The weight that should be accorded an ABA rating was called into question after the debacle in which Republican partisan Fred Fielding prepared Miguel Estrada’s ABA rating recommendation.  Mr. Fielding not only served on the White House transition team advising the President about cabinet appointments, he subsequently co-founded the Committee for Justice, which attacks anyone opposed to the President’s judicial nominees.  Similarly, the ABA’s rating to Judge Pickering after his judicial ethics were called into question by national ethics experts undermined the confidence that some in the Senate had in the evaluations of the ABA’s rating committee.  Also, the ABA’s ratings do not take into account the President’s effort to put so many ideologues and extremists into these lifetime positions on the bench.

In Ms. Hopkins’ case, the ABA rating may reflect her modest trial experience: She has been the sole or chief counsel in only two of the cases she has tried to verdict.  Ms. Hopkins has been active in Republican fundraising like many of the President’s nominees, but I am hopeful, given the confidence Senator Shelby has reposed in her, that she will leave her partisan roots behind upon confirmation. Out of deference to Senator Shelby, I will vote in favor of her confirmation.

I congratulate Ms. Hopkins on her confirmation.