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Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Margaret M. Garnett to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, Ms. Garnett earned her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1992, her M.A. and M. Phil. from Yale University in 1995 and 1997, and her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2000. Ms. Garnett began her legal career working as an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz from 2000 to 2004, where she focused on bankruptcy litigation. She then clerked for the Honorable Gerald E. Lynch on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2004 to 2005. Following her clerkship, Ms. Garnett joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where she would go on to rise in the ranks throughout her 15-year tenure with the office. Although she presently serves as special counsel, Ms. Garnet has also served the Office as Deputy United States Attorney, Chief of Appeals, Deputy Chief of Appeals, Chief of the Violent and Organized Crime Units, Deputy Chief of the Violent Crimes Unit, and assistant United States attorney. From 2017 to 2018, Ms. Garnett served in the Office of the New York Attorney General, serving as the executive deputy attorney general for criminal justice.
In 2018, Ms. Garnett was nominated by the mayor of New York City and confirmed by the New York City Council to serve as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, an agency charged with investigating individual and systemic corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse in city government. A substantial majority of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary rated Ms. Garnett as ``well qualified,'' and her nomination is strongly supported by her home State Senators, Mr. Schumer and Mrs. Gillibrand.
With deep ties to the Southern District of New York and significant experience working on criminal matters, Ms. Garnett will serve on the bench with distinction. I am proud to support her nomination and urge my colleagues to do the same.
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