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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Cynthia Valenzuela Dixon to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Born in Tucson, AZ, Judge Valenzuela earned her B.A. at the University of Arizona in 1991 and her J.D. at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law in 1995. After graduating from law school, she worked as special assistant to Vice Chair Cruz Reynoso on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1995 to 1998.

Between 1998 and 2000, Judge Valenzuela served as a trial attorney in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2000 to 2006, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

After that, Judge Valenzuela worked at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, first as the western regional counsel in 2006 and then as the national vice president and director of litigation from 2006 to 2011.

Between 2011 and 2016, Judge Valenzuela served as the Criminal Justice Act supervising attorney on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Since 2016, Judge Valenzuela has served as a judge on the State Bar Court of California. She served as the supervising judge of that court from 2020 to 2022.

The American Bar Association rated Judge Valenzuela as ``qualified,'' and her nomination is strongly supported by her home State Senators, Mr. Padilla and Ms. Butler.

Judge Valenzuela's substantial litigation background and service on the State Bar Court of California have prepared her to serve as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. I am proud to support her nomination.

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