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Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm James Donald Maxwell to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
I will vote in opposition to Judge Maxwell's confirmation to a lifetime appointment on the Federal bench.
During his tenure on the Mississippi Supreme Court, he authored two opinions that raise serious concerns. In Nash v. State, Justice Maxwell wrote for the majority in upholding a 12-year sentence for a man convicted of possessing a cell phone in jail.
Although agreeing with the outcome in the case, another Mississippi Supreme Court justice wrote separately to highlight how the case ``seem[ed] to demonstrate a failure of our criminal justice system on multiple levels.''
Among other things, the facts suggested the crime was accidental and likely caused by a failure in booking procedures. In addition, the concurring justice noted that the crime was victimless and that the defendant had three children and a wife depending on him.
I asked Justice Maxwell whether he agreed with this characterization of the case. Instead of answering my question, he only summarized the case and cited the relevant statute, which authorized a sentence ranging from 3 to 15 years.
If confirmed as a district judge, Justice Maxwell will be in a position to exercise judicial discretion when sentencing a defendant. His lack of responsiveness to my questions does not give me comfort that he understands the gravity of sentencing.
In another case, Justice Maxwell affirmed the denial of a name change petition for a teenager who had the support of their parents. The lower court denied the petition, finding that the petitioner should mature further before the name change was granted.
Justice Maxwell upheld the lower court's decision, asserting without evidence that denying the name change petition was in the teenager's best interest due to a lack of maturity.
I asked Justice Maxwell about the insufficiency of the evidentiary record to determine the teenager's maturity level. He once again dodged my question.
For these reasons, I will be opposing Justice Maxwell's nomination.
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