Opening Floor Statement Nomination of Jeffrey Sutton

OPENING FLOOR STATEMENT NOMINATION OF JEFFREY SUTTON

Mr. President, I am pleased that today we are considering the nomination of Jeffrey Sutton to serve on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Judiciary Committee had an opportunity to listen to Jeff Sutton answer questions a few months ago at what turned out to be a very lengthy hearing. Probably 60 to 70 percent of the questions asked during the nine and a half hour hearing were directed at Mr. Sutton, and those of you who heard his testimony or reviewed the hearing transcript will no doubt attest to his keen intellect, his even temperament, and the depth of his legal knowledge.

These attributes demonstrate why Jeffrey Sutton is one of the finest appellate lawyers in the United States today and why he will be an excellent federal judge.

Mr. President, Mr. Sutton's legal -- and life -- experiences have been extensive. Jeff spent the first part of his life living abroad. The Sutton family remained abroad until a couple of years before Jeff started high school. They returned to the states because his father took over a boarding school for children with severe cerebral palsy. For over six years, Jeff spent much of his time around the school doing odd jobs for his father.

He was deeply affected by this experience and by the interactions that he had with these students. It reinforced what he had been taught by his parents -- that serving others is an important calling and virtue.

Mr. Sutton attended Williams College, where he was a Lehman Scholar and varsity soccer player. He graduated with honors in history. After college, from 1985 to 1987, Mr. Sutton taught 7th grade geography and 10th grade history, while also serving as the coach of a high school varsity soccer team and a middle school baseball team.

From there, he went on to law school and graduated first in his class from The Ohio State University College of Law, where he served as an editor of the Law Review. Mr. Sutton then clerked for Judge Thomas Meskill on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. From this position, he went on to clerk for two U.S. Supreme Court justices -- retired Justice Lewis Powell and Justice Antonin Scalia.

From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Sutton was the State Solicitor of Ohio, which is the State's top appellate lawyer.

During his service, the National Association of Attorneys General presented him with the Best Brief Award for practicing in the U.S. Supreme Court -- a recognition he received an unprecedented four years in a row!

Jeff Sutton is currently a partner in the Columbus law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. He is a member of the Columbus Bar Association, the Ohio Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He also has been an adjunct professor of law at The Ohio State University College of Law since 1994, where he teaches seminars on federal and state constitutional law.

Every lawyer who knows Jeff Sutton already knows he is one of the best lawyers in the country. Recently, The American Lawyer confirmed this by rating him one of its "45 under 45" -- that is, they named him as one of the top 45 lawyers in the country under the age of 45.

He has appeared frequently in court, having argued 12 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he has a 9 and 3 record. In the Supreme Court's 2000-2001 term, Mr. Sutton argued four cases -- that's more cases than any other private practitioner in the country. Can you imagine preparing to argue one case before the Supreme Court, much less four? Sutton won all four cases.

Mr. Sutton also has argued twelve cases before the Ohio Supreme Court, six cases before various U.S. Courts of Appeals, and numerous cases before the state and federal trial courts. And, over the years, Mr. Sutton has been the lawyer for a range of clients on a wide range of issues.

Some of these cases were quite well known and at least one of them has already been raised in debate here on the Floor. For example, he represented the State of Ohio in City of Boerne v. Flores, the State of Florida in Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents, and the State of Alabama in University of Alabama v. Garrett.

While many of the cases that he has argued are well known, I would like to take this opportunity to tell my colleagues about some of his lesser-known cases. Jeff Sutton represented Cheryl Fischer, a blind woman who was denied admission to a state-run medical school in Ohio because of her disability.

He also represented the National Coalition of Students with Disabilities in a lawsuit alleging that Ohio universities were violating the federal "motor voter" law by failing to provide their disabled students with voter-registration materials.

Jeff Sutton also defended Ohio's minority set-aside statute against constitutional attack, and in another case he filed an amicus brief in the Ohio Supreme Court defending Ohio's hate-crimes statute on behalf of the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, and an assortment of other civil-rights groups. As this sampling of cases makes evident, Mr. Sutton has represented a variety of clients in the course of his career as an appellate lawyer. I think it is important for Senators to remember this fact as we consider Mr. Sutton's nomination.

In addition to his professional work as a lawyer, Jeff Sutton has found an extraordinary amount of time to give back to his community. Between a demanding law practice and spending time with his wife, Peggy, and their three young children -- Margaret, John, and Nathaniel -- Mr. Sutton serves on the Board of Trustees of the Equal Justice Foundation, a non-profit provider of legal services to disadvantaged individuals and groups, including the disabled. He has spent considerable time doing pro bono legal work, averaging between 100 and 200 hours per year. He is an Elder and Deacon in the Presbyterian Church, as well as a Sunday school teacher.

He participates in numerous other community activities, including "I Know I Can," which provides college scholarships to inner-city children; and ProMusica, a chamber music organization. He also coaches youth soccer and basketball teams.

In conclusion, when considering Jeff Sutton's nomination, I encourage the Senate to consider his broad range of life experiences, as well as his stellar legal background. I also urge my colleagues to take into account his testimony and the straightforward way that he answered the many questions posed to him during his confirmation hearing. Finally, I encourage the Senate to consider Mr. Sutton's astute characterization of the role of a federal judge. As he said, a Court of Appeals judge must try at all times to "see the world through other people's eyes."

I believe that is an excellent summary of one of the core responsibilities of an appellate court judge.

Jeff Sutton understands well the skills and the temperament necessary to be a good federal judge. He has the intellect for the job, and I am confident that he will approach his duties on the bench in pragmatic, tempered, and thoughtful way. I strongly support his nomination and encourage my colleagues to do the same.