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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, at the outset, I want to join the majority leader in his kind words related to Judge Doris Pryor, who is seeking a seat on the Seventh Circuit of Appeals.

Today, the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Doris Pryor to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Pryor is an outstanding nominee to the appellate bench. She is a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas and the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Following law school, she clerked for Judge Lavenski R. Smith on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and for Judge J. Leon Holmes on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Judge Pryor then served for a short period of time as a deputy public defender in Texarkana, AR. In 2006, she joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. During her time as a Federal prosecutor, Judge Pryor handled all types of criminal matters and argued several Federal appeals. She also served as national security chief and as the office's reentry and prevention coordinator. In 2018, she was selected by the district judges of the Southern District of Indiana to serve as a magistrate judge, a position she holds to this day. In this role, Judge Pryor oversees a wide range of judicial proceedings in both civil and criminal matters.

She was unanimously rated ``qualified'' by the American Bar Association, and she has received blue slips from Senators Young and Braun, her two Republican home State Senators. She also received a bipartisan vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Judge Pryor has significant Federal experience and a proven track record of neutral decision making on the bench. I strongly support her nomination, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

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