Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I also to want speak to the judicial nomination, but I want to first respond as well to the Senator from Arizona. Let me first of all say there are few people in this body I have more respect for, and there are few people in this body who have time and again shown the political courage he has to put country ahead of party. I share a lot of his views. It is odd, but I feel sometimes that I work in the only place in America where being a gang member is considered a good thing.

I have not served here during these times when my party was in the minority, and intellectually I understand Senator McCain's point, but I guess what I can't understand and what I can't explain to the folks all across Virginia when they ask me: Why can't you guys get anything done, is that on any historical basis, looking at the number of times these procedures have been used in the past--and clearly they have been used by both parties--it seems at some point, while the rights of the minority need to be protected, there has to be some level of common agreement for not exercising these tools to the extent they have been so that this institution becomes so dysfunctional we allow ourselves to do something that in my tenure both in public and private life was never as stupid as what we did during the first 3 weeks of October.

So I do appreciate the Senator's comments. And although I now want to speak to the extraordinary qualifications of Patricia Millett, someone from Virginia, I wanted to state that I believe in the Senator's good faith and I also hope we can avoid the kind of further breakdown that would further disappoint the American people. I thank him for his comments.

I do want to take a couple of moments to talk about something other Senators have come out to speak on, and that is the nomination the President has made of a fellow Virginian, Patricia Millett, to be part of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

I have had the opportunity as Governor to appoint people to the bench, and I took that responsibility very seriously in terms of reviewing the qualifications of the candidates. I had the opportunity as a Senator to recommend individuals to the courts for the President's consideration, and I can't think of a candidate who brings more qualifications, more evidence of bipartisan support, more deserving of appointment, than Patricia Millett.

We all know the DC Circuit plays an incredibly important role in our judicial system. We also know the court currently has 3 of its 11 seats vacant. I recognize that in the past this court has been the focus of some debate and discussion, but the idea that we are going to somehow change the rules midstream seems inappropriate. If there is a legislative reason why we should change the DC Circuit Court from 11 to some fewer number of judges, that ought to be fully debated, but we should not hold up the confirmation of an individual whose credentials I believe are impeccable.

Ms. Millett currently chairs the Supreme Court practice at Akin Gump. She went to the University of Illinois and Harvard Law School. She clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and she worked on the appellate staff of the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

She has spent over a decade in the U.S. Solicitor General's office, serving both Democratic and Republican administrations. During her time there she was awarded the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award, and as has been mentioned by my other colleagues, during her career she has argued 32 times before the Supreme Court, which until recently was the highest number of cases argued by any woman in our history.

What is also remarkable--and the Senator from Arizona mentioned we need to move past some of these partisan divisions--is that this is an individual who is supported by both Democrats and Republicans.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter indicating that support.

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