Senate Proceeding on Oct 27th, 2009 :: 1:40:40 to 2:04:05
Total video length: 2 hours 32 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Download OptionsEmbed Video

Views:34 Duration: 0:23:25 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

1:40:38 to 1:40:58( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: is ready to take the floor.

1:40:40 to 2:04:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jeff Sessions

1:40:59 to 1:41:20( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the presiding officer: the senator from mr. sessions: we are not in a quorum call, are we? the presiding officer: no, we are not. mr. sessions: i want to talk about president obama's nominee for the u.s. district judge for the southern district of west virginia, judge bergerment. the historic significance judge berger's nomination

1:41:21 to 1:41:43( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: shouldn't be lost on anyone. if confidence, she would be the first african-american to serve on the federal bench in the state of west virginia. she's had a distinguished career, been a state judge for the last 15 years. before that she was a state prosecutor for 12 years, a lawyer for the legal aid society. i enjoyed the dialogue we had during her confirmation hearing.

1:41:44 to 1:42:07( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: theri was especially pleased to see her responses to the questions for the record. she indicated in those answers outright thew this ashe did not agree with the empathy standard that president obama had used in saying -- for his nominations saying -- this is what she said, "a judge should apply the law to

1:42:08 to 1:42:28( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the facts of a case without being influenced by sympathy or empathy." she further stated that it is never proper to for a judge to indoling in his or her own sense of empathy in deciding what the law means. i wholeheartedly agree and am pleased to be able to support her nomination. i think the presint's

1:42:29 to 1:42:52( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: nominations deserve deference, understand that we should-- and that we should support them when we can. although we do have a constitutional responsibility to examine the nominees to ask the tough questio when we can and to not support them and oppose them when that's the appropriate thing. so i commend chairman leahy on

1:42:53 to 1:43:13( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the pace of his hearings. last week the committee held its 16th judicial hearing, but i want to set the record straight about a few things. at this time in his -- at this point in his presidency, president bush had nominated 60 judges but only 18 hearings had been held.

1:43:14 to 1:43:34( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: in contrast, president obama has nominated only 23 judges, inuding a supreme court nominee, which took a great deal of our time -- as rightly it should -- and yet his nominees have received almost the same number of hearings. mr. president, the senate

1:43:35 to 1:43:55( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: judiciary committee is doing its job. we arerocessing nominees at a reasonable pace, in a fair and bipartisan manner. there are those who say the republicans are slow-walking i accuse -- i suggest that's a preemptive accusation to complain about something they think might happen.

1:43:56 to 1:44:17( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: i would just says it's not happening, in my view. e raw numbers show that. those same individuals also claim that the vacancy rate on the federal courts is and therefore we needo confirm moreudges than we did during president bush's first two years

1:44:18 to 1:44:40( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: in office. however, the need to fill vacancies shouldn't -- does not undercut the responsibility to properly vet those lifetime appointments. furthermore, we can only process nominees that we have before us. there are currently 22 circuit

1:44:41 to 1:45:05( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: court vacancies, but only nine nominees before the senate. there are 75 district court vacancies and only 10 nominees before the and this chart would show that. these are the vacancies in dark there represents the circuit court. so these

1:45:06 to 1:45:26( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: nominations we've gotten so far. the nine for the district court -- ten for the district court. today president obama has announced a total of only nominees, one of which was supreme court. and by this time, the bush administration had sent the senate 60 nominees

1:45:27 to 1:45:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: times as many. over the past few weeks i've heard the chairman of our committee come to the floor and state that the pace of confirmations is not acceptable. i would like to point out a f numbers to those who now say democrats confirmed a significant number of president bush nominees.

1:45:49 to 1:46:10( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: as i told the chairman, i hate to get into this. we've been doing this for a going to remain silent while the record is distorted. we need to talk about perspective and if we're going to continue tat i'll be down here to explain the other side of the question. president bush had fewer

1:46:11 to 1:46:35( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: nominees confirmed than any two-term president in modern history. that's -- president clinton had 377 confirmed. president bush only got 326. president clinton was able to confirm two supreme court

1:46:37 to 1:46:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: nominees. under bush administration, a democrat repaid -- held up qualified some case, denying them an up-or-down vote even though a majority of the senators were ready and willing to confirm them. there are those who say that republicans are filibustering

1:46:58 to 1:47:19( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: nominees, and i say to them that that's not correct. a hold is not a filibuster. when a member of this body has concerns about a nominee, they have a right to put a hold on that nominee. the majority leader has prerogative to file cloture on that nomination. there were nominees that i have strongly opposed and have voted

1:47:20 to 1:47:40( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: against, but i voted for cloture when the majority leader sought to bring it up, so the nominee would get their vote. that's the way you overcome a hold. we all rember well that soon after president bush was elected -- madam president, houf time do we have -- how much time

1:47:41 to 1:48:01( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: do we have left? the presiding officer: the minority has 15 minutes remaing. mr. sessions: i think most of us in the body -- this body that were here rember soon after president bush was elected in 2000, a group of well-known liberal professors -- laurence

1:48:02 to 1:48:23( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: tribe, marcia green berger and cass sunstein, he's the one recently appointed by president obama to one of his administration offices who believes that animals should have lawyers appointed for them. but they met with the democratic leadership. "the new york times" reported at that time that they proposed

1:48:24 to 1:48:44( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: changing the ground rules of the confirmation process they proposed that senators consider a nominee's ideology and for the first time in history of the country they proposed the burden be shifted to the nominee to somehow prove that they were worthy of the appointment instead of having the senate respect the presumptive power of the

1:48:45 to 1:49:06( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: president to make the nomination and then object if there was a disagreement. this was a major change in the history of the senate. it was done by the democrats when we had a republican president. it was clear to me then that as a result of that meeting, a majority of the democratic

1:49:07 to 1:49:28( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: members of the senate agreed. after the democrats took control of the majority a few months later, when senator jeffords changed parties, the senate confirmed only six of president bush's 25 circuit nominees. five nominees had bipartisan

1:49:29 to 1:49:53( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: support, and two were prior clinton nominees. president bush nominated two prior clinton nominees. he's renominated them. they confirmed them, but only a few others were confirmed. yet, the majority of president bush's first nominees, nominated

1:49:54 to 1:50:15( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: on may 9, 2001, waited years for confirmation. priscilla owen was nominated to the fifth circuit. a fabulous supreme court justice in texas, took four years for her to be confirmed. she was on the short list for the supreme court. she's a brilliant jtice.

1:50:16 to 1:50:37( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: now-chief justice john roberts, he was nominated at that time for the d.c. circuit, one of the most brilliant justices i have ever seen come before the senate, took two years for him to be confirmed. and he had to go through two hearings. jeffrey sutton, another brilliant nominee to the sixth circuit court of appeals was

1:50:38 to 1:50:58( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: confirmed, but only after two years in 2003. deborah cook for the sixth circuit took two years to get her nomination confirmed. dennis shed, nominated for the fourth circuit, took a year and a half before he was confirmed. michael mcconnell, a

1:50:59 to 1:51:19( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: brilliant, brilliant lawyer. and so is dennis shed. but mcconnell is a real intellectual for the ten eugt circuit; -- for the tenth circuit, took a year and a half before he was confirmed. terrence bold waited almost eight years until his nomination lapsed at the end of president

1:51:20 to 1:51:41( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: bush's nomination. he never got a vote. perhaps the most disturbing story was that of miguel estrada. miguel estrada was a brilliant, outstanding, well-qualified consensus nominee. he was nominated to the d.c. circuit on may 9 of 2001. he waited 16 months to just get a hearing.

1:51:42 to 1:52:04( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: 16 months, only to be confronted with the unreasonable request for more information after almost two and a half years in limbo and a protracted six-month long filibuster battle, we brought his name up a number of times, and he was blocked by a filibuster. mr. estrada withdrew his name

1:52:05 to 1:52:26( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: from further consideration and remained baffled why such a fine nominee was treated so poorly. his character was attacked. his nomination ultimately was blocked for no reason other than some say he was so capable he would have been on the short list for the united states supreme court. well, i don't say all this to

1:52:27 to 1:52:49( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: say there's going to be payback. i do not believe in that. it's time for us to move forward with judicial nominees in the right way. i'm saying this to set the record straight, because i will not stand silent and have what's happening today be compared with the incredible obstructive

1:52:50 to 1:53:10( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: actions that the democrats took in early 2000. that said, this senate, and i think many of its members, undersnd that it would be wrong for us to be a rubber stamp for every the senator from tphaoefplt we have a

1:53:11 to 1:53:31( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: constitutional duty to -- for every nominee. we have a duty to ask the important questions that may not be asked at other points in the process. during his campaign, president obama pledged that he would strive for a bipartisan administration. but the president has failed to put action behind those words in

1:53:32 to 1:53:53( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: a number of instances. he's refused to nominate some of the noncontroversial consensus circuit court nominees who were not confmed by the senate in the last congress, like president bush did when he took office. for example, glenn conrad had the support of his democrat

1:53:54 to 1:54:15( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: home-state senator. yet he was never given a hearing before the end of the bush administration. peter kaisler had broad bipartisan support from lawyers and colleagues throughout the country, a brilliant and capable nominee, but never got a vote. he was denied a vote by the democratic leadership.

1:54:16 to 1:54:36( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: in addition, mr. kaisler was praised in the department inspector general's report, one that dealt with the danger of politicizing the department of justice. and the i.g. looked in there and examined it. they praised him because he spoke

1:54:37 to 1:54:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: those who appeared to have allowed political considerations to play a role in hiring decisions. he focused on the candidate's qualifications. but rather than being rewarded for his courage, he fell victim to the very partisan wrangling he stood against.

1:54:58 to 1:55:19( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: now, president obama chose to set a, an aggressive tone, i think, by nominating judge david hamilton, a former board member and vice president for litigation of the indiana chapter of the aclu as his first

1:55:20 to 1:55:42( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: circuit court nominee. judge hamilton's nomination is clearly controversial, and it was only exacerbated by the rushed hearing schedule on his nomination. indeed, i think it's fair to say he's outside the mainstream of

1:55:43 to 1:56:04( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: even president obama's nominees. instead of embracing the constitutional standard of jurisprudence, judge hamilton has embraced this empathy standard, this feeling standard. whatever that is, it's not law. it's not a legal standard. he also believes that a judge will -- quote -- "reach different decisions from time to

1:56:05 to 1:56:26( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: time, taking into account what happened and its effect on both parties. what are the practical consequences?" he appears to have embraced the idea of a living constitution. in 2003, he indicated in a speech that a judge's role,

1:56:27 to 1:56:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: including writing footnotes to the constitution. i'm not aware that a judge has the power to write a footnote to the constitution that's been ratified by we, the people of the united states of america. and when senator hatch questioned him about these comments in a follow-up question, he reiterated some -- he retreated somewhat but gave a

1:56:49 to 1:57:09( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: disturbing answer also about judges amending the constitution or creating new rights through chaste law. this judicial philosophy has clearly impacted his rulings. he issued a number of controversial rulings and have significant cases.

1:57:10 to 1:57:34( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: so that's why he's having difficulty on the floor of the senate and hasn't moved fward. but there's another nominee here, a lady for the 11th circuit that everybody is prepared to vote on. for some reason the democrats won't call her up and vote her in. andre davis, you've heard about

1:57:36 to 1:57:58( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: before, to the fourth circuit. we've had a number of battles over failure to be able to fill some of the vacancies on that court. president bush submitted a number of nominations, and i couldn't get them for a vote. for example, judge robert conrad, judge clinton conrad,

1:57:59 to 1:58:19( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: steve mathews, mr. rod rosenstein. mr. rosenstein was nominated for a fourth circuit seat as a judicial emergency in november of 2007, the very seat mr. davis has been now nominated for. he was held up, and these vacancies were basically maintained by democratic

1:58:20 to 1:58:41( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: senators from maryland for nine years. the a.b.a. rated mr. rosenstein unanimously well qualified. he was confirmed as a united states attorney unanimously in the district. he held several positions in the department. but he waited 414 days for a

1:58:42 to 1:59:02( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: hearing that never came. his nomination was returned on january of this year. in 2008, a "washington post" editorial stated that -- quote -- "blocking mr. rosenstein's confirmation hearing would elevate ideology and ego above substance and merit and would

1:59:03 to 1:59:24( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: unfairly penalize a man who people on both sides of this question agree is well qualified for judgeship." so now a few weeks go by, and they're already blaming the republicans are not moving fast enough on mr. davis, who's got some serious problems in his background, i just have to say.

1:59:25 to 1:59:46( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: i'm concerned about it. been reversed quite a number of times. but he certainly has had his hearing. he had a hearing 27 days after his nomination. in a committee vote, came out of the committee on a split vote just 36 days later. there's no question that mr. davis is a good man, but his

1:59:47 to 2:00:08( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: record is a cause for some concern. he's been reversed by the fourth circuit numerous times in cases where he misapplied the law, including six criminal cases where he threw out evidence that could be used to help convict a criminal. he was reversed at least six times in cases that he had

2:00:09 to 2:00:29( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: wrongly remained unresold issues between the parties. he dismissed the case. parties had to appeal. six times he repealed at great expense. if he didn't accurately assess the facts or apply the laws in these more simple cases at the

2:00:30 to 2:00:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: federal trial court level, some of them are -- are not so complicated, others are. is he qualified now to be on the four circuit? so these are the concerns we have. mr. chin, a united states

2:00:51 to 2:01:15( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: magistrate, was nomined for the northern district of california stated previous -- has stated -- quote -- "most -- he finds -- quote -- "most rewarding contributing to the development of the law via published opinion especially if

2:01:18 to 2:01:41( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: it come ports with my view." make sure it come ports with your view of the law. well, a judge is supposed to be a neutral umpire. they're not supposed to be using their moment on the bench to rewrite the law to make it say what they'd like it to say. they'd like the write law, let them come down here and run for

2:01:45 to 2:02:06( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: congress. so, mr. president, he's ma a number of speeches and -- and statements and -- that i'm concerned about. i won't go into that today. i just would say that these are some of the nominees that are going to have some difficulty here on the floor. but most of the nominees, like the nominee that we're about to

2:02:07 to 2:02:29( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: vote on will go through in a -- a -- expeditious manner. too often the problem that we're dealing with is that there is a philosophy out there -- i don't think it's a legal philosophy.

2:02:30 to 2:02:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: i think it's a nonlegal philosophy. that believes it's legitimate for a judge to look outde the law in judging and their policy preferences -- their policy preferences are -- are -- is legitimate for those matters to impact their decision making.

2:02:51 to 2:03:12( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: and we're talking about a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. there's no opportunity to examine the nominees after they've been confirmed. they should demonstrate that they will not render rulings that go beyond the plain meaning of the law. the presiding officer: the senator's time is expired. mr. sessions: madam president, i

2:03:13 to 2:03:33( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: thank the chair and intend to say that i -- i intend to support the nominee. and conclude by saying that those of us in the minority intend to give these nominees a fair hearing and to allow the best majority to have up and down votes promptly, but those who deserve, and we think should

2:03:34 to 2:03:45( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: be objected to, will have a difficult i think that's the proper role for us. i thank the chair and would