Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, today, the Senate turns to another judicial nomination, that of Timothy Hillman, to be U.S. district judge for the District of Massachusetts. I support this nomination.
We continue to confirm the President's nominees at a brisk pace. In fact, with today's confirmations, we will have confirmed 147 of this President's district and circuit court nominees.
Let me put that in perspective for my colleagues. We also have confirmed two Supreme Court nominees during President Obama's term. The last time the Senate confirmed two Supreme Court nominees was during President Bush's second term. And during President Bush's entire second term, the Senate confirmed a total of only 120 district and circuit court nominees. We have confirmed 27 more nominees for President Obama than we did for President Bush in a similar time period.
Judge Hillman received his B.A. from Coe College in 1970 and his J.D. from Suffolk Law School in 1973. He began his legal career in 1974 as a staff attorney at Murphy & Pusateri. In 1975 he became an assistant district attorney, where he prosecuted criminal cases for Worcester County. During this time, he also conducted limited private practice, which centered on drafting wills, representing clients in real estate transactions, and representing plaintiffs in motor torts. He left the D.A.'s office in 1978 and represented criminal defendants in private practice until 1988. He also represented multiple municipalities in this stretch of time as either city solicitor or town counsel. While working in these capacities, he represented the municipalities in court, gave legal advice to their boards and elected officials, and drafted and reviewed legal documents.
In 1995 Judge Hillman was appointed to be associate judge of the Gardner District Court, and he became presiding justice there in 1997. From 1998 to 2006 Judge Hillman was a judge for the Massachusetts Superior Court, an appointed position. In 2006 Judge Hillman was appointed to be a U.S. magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Worcester Division. As a magistrate judge, he manages and tries civil cases with the consent of the parties, both jury and nonjury. He is also responsible for the initiation and management of criminal felonies, not including trial, and all aspects of criminal misdemeanors.
The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated him as ``well qualified'' for this position.
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