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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Susan DeClercq to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Ms. DeClercq received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Wayne State University School of Law. After clerking for Judge Avern L. Cohn of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Ms. DeClercq worked at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meager & Flom, LLP as an associate, where she worked on a variety of matters, including white collar defense and commercial litigation. During her tenure at Skadden, she coauthored an amicus brief on behalf of Members of Congress in the 2003 Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger, which considered the use of affirmative action policies in college admissions. She then went on to serve as a Federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan for 18 years, where she led substantial investigations and handled hundreds of cases at every stage of litigation, from inception to post-judgment.

The American Bar Association unanimously rated Ms. DeClercq ``qualified'' to serve on the district court, and she has the strong support of Senators Stabenow and Peters.

With more than two decades of litigation experience--the vast majority of which has been in government service--Ms. DeClercq is well positioned to handle the demands of the Eastern District of Michigan from day one.

I thank my colleagues for supporting her nomination.

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