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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Robert Kirsch to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

A graduate of Emory University and Fordham University School of Law, Judge Kirsch clerked for U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch on the Southern District of Florida before devoting his entire legal career to public service.

Judge Kirsch was selected for the prestigious U.S. Attorney General's Honors Program, in which he served as a trial attorney in the civil division.

Thereafter, Judge Kirsch spent over a decade as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, defending the United States in civil actions and prosecuting a range of criminal cases including financial and corporate fraud, as well as drug trafficking, weapons offenses, and bank robbery.

Since 2010, Judge Kirsch has had a distinguished career as a judge on the New Jersey Superior Court, serving as a criminal division judge, a civil division judge, and a family division judge.

The American Bar Association rated Judge Kirsch as unanimously ``well qualified.'' In addition, he has the strong support of his home State Senators--Mr. Menendez and Mr. Booker--as well as the New Jersey legal community.

Judge Kirsch's significant courtroom experience, as both a longtime litigator and on the bench, makes him well-positioned to serve on the District of New Jersey with distinction. I urge my colleagues to support Judge Kirsch's nomination.

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