Opening Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Executive Business Meeting
July 19, 2001

I want to welcome back all our returning Members, in particular, Senators Durbin, Cantwell, Brownback and McConnell.

We are all delighted to be joined, as well, by Senator Edwards. I welcomed him to the Committee last week when he participated at our nominations hearing. I thank him for his willingness to serve and look forward to the important contributions I know he will make to the work of the Committee. In his time in the Senate and in legal practice he has demonstrated keen insight and effectiveness across a range of important issues.

Conflicting responsibilities of some our Members delayed them last week and we were unable to reach a quorum in order to report to the Senate the President’s nominees to the Justice Department I had included on last week’s agenda. I hope that we will be able to conduct our business expeditiously this week and report out a number of matters.

It took the Senate the entire month of June to pass S. Res. 120, a simple resolution reorganizing the Committees. It was only last Tuesday that assignments to Committees were completed. Last Wednesday, the first day after the Committee membership was set, we proceeded to hold a confirmation hearing on judicial and executive branch nominees. This week we proceeded with back-to-back days of hearing on the nominations of Asa Hutchinson to head the Drug Enforcement Administration and James Ziglar to head the Immigration and Naturalization Service. I have noticed another hearing for next Tuesday for judicial and executive branch nominees.

In addition, we received the President’s nomination of a new FBI Director just yesterday and I proceeded that same day to notice hearings on that important nomination to begin a week from Monday. It is my hope that with the cooperation of all Members and the Administration we should be able to make progress on these nominees and work toward Senate confirmation before the August recess, if possible. I ask for the cooperation of all Members of the Committee, on both sides of the aisle. I noticed the hearings on Robert Mueller’s nomination to serve as Director of the FBI to begin on July 30 and expect it will carry over on Tuesday, July 31. I will see if it is possible for the Committee act on that nomination before the August recess.

I regret that Senators and their staffs will have not have more time to prepare for so important a hearing as that on the nominee to be the next Director of the FBI. It is my hope that the series of oversight hearings regarding the FBI in which we have been engaged, including our hearing yesterday, have helped and that Senators will be able to adhere to an expedited schedule for the hearing, a very brief turnaround time for written follow up questions and immediate Committee consideration.

We are going to all have to cooperate and work together. Simultaneously, we still have a number of matters we need to complete before we have fully reorganized the Committee. The Senate has assigned us to be Members of this important Committee, but the Committee has a number of issues that need to be resolved. For example, our reallocation of office space has been delayed for more than a month. We will want to consider adding at least one additional subcommittee and several Senators have suggested that we rename and reorganize some of the other subcommittees. We will need to consider subcommittee assignments. I want to work with all members of the Committee to see if we cannot now complete agreement on the reorganization of the Committee within the next few days. We need to complete our revision of the Committee questionnaire for nominees without further delay, as well.

Another matter that arises from the reorganization of the Senate is the matter of making “blue slips” public. On June 29 Senator Hatch and I jointly sent a Dear Colleague letter to the Senate declaring that blue slips would be treated as public information. Following up on that determination I am making public today the blue slips received earlier this year, before the new policy of openness was announced.

I well recall the discussion in the Committee in early 1997 when Senator Durbin called for making blue slips public. I am glad that we have been able to move forward toward a policy of openness in this regard and I want to acknowledge that Senator Hatch joined with me in this effort, which has the support of Senator Specter, Senator McConnell, Senator Feinstein and, I believe, all Members of the Committee.

Nominations
We have three of President Bush’s judicial nominations and three of his nominations to the Department of Justice nominees on the agenda for action today.

The judicial nominees are consensus nominees, strongly endorsed at our hearing by their home-state Senators and broadly supported. I am sorry that we lost the month of June to the process of re-organizing the Senate, but I am proud of the very quick start that the Committee has gotten on holding hearings. I sent out official notice of that July 11 hearing within 10 minutes after Majority Leader Daschle announced that an agreement had been reached on re-organization. The hearing was held the day after Committee assignments were completed. If we can proceed with these nominees today, they will be the first judicial nominations reported by the Committee this year.

I know that Judge Roger Gregory, his family, and indeed, all of the people who live in the area covered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, have been waiting a long time for this day. Judge Gregory was first nominated for this position in June, 2000– more than a year ago. He had the bipartisan support of both his home-state Senators, John Warner and Chuck Robb. Unfortunately, no hearing was ever scheduled on President Clinton’s nomination.
President Clinton’s attempts to fill a number of vacancies on the Fourth Circuit met with resistance, delaying the inevitable integration of the court. James Beaty, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina, was nominated by President Clinton in December of 1995, but he never received a hearing. Judge Beaty was renominated in 1997, and again, the Committee scheduled no hearing for him. Judge Beaty waited a period of 34 months without a hearing.

President Clinton tried again in 1999, nominating another African-American, James Wynn. Judge Wynn, a North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge, was also denied a hearing, but President Clinton sent him back to the Senate one more time, at the start of the 107th Congress. After pending for a total of 16 months without a hearing, Judge Wynn’s nomination was among those withdrawn by President Bush in March of this year.

Roger Gregory was initially nominated, as I noted, over a year ago. Like the others, his nomination languished without a hearing. Because there was no action taken by the Committee on his nomination, President Clinton used his powers of recess appointment to make Roger Gregory the first African-American Judge to sit on the Fourth Circuit and sent his nomination for a permanent position on that Court back to the Senate at the beginning of this year. Unfortunately, President Bush withdrew Judge Gregory’s nomination in March.

After careful reconsideration, the President sent Judge Gregory’s name back to us in May, again with the strong support of both Senators from Virginia.

This makes Judge Gregory one of the few nominees ever to be nominated by Presidents of different parties. In addition, Judge Gregory is in the unique position of serving by means of an appointment whose term expires at the end of this session of the Senate, unless his nomination to a full lifetime appointed is acted upon before we adjourn this year.

His life and career have been exemplary and his qualifications for this position are stellar. His service on the bench since his appointment has been uniformly praised. He conducted himself with distinction at his confirmation hearing this month. Based on all these considerations, it seems appropriate that Judge Gregory’s nomination be the first considered by the Committee and the Senate this year.

The two nominees to the District Court from Montana are both well qualified and well respected. United States Magistrate Judge Richard Cebull and attorney Sam Haddon are both strongly supported by their home-state Senators, Max Baucus and Conrad Burns, who each testified enthusiastically on behalf of these nominees at our July 11 hearing. The Senators from Montana also echoed the plea we had heard from Chief Judge Molloy, who is the only active district judge for the District. I hope the Committee will respond to their plea and approve these nominations today.

We also have three Assistants Attorney General on today’s agenda. This will be one of the least contentious paths for a nominee to head the Civil Rights Division in some time. Indeed, this Committee refused for the last 3 years of the Clinton Administration even to report to the Senate President Clinton’s nomination to head the Civil Rights Division.

In addition, the nomination of the Assistant Attorney General to head the Civil Division is not taking anywhere near the 18 months the Senate consumed before approving President Clinton’s nomination of David Ogden to head that important division last year.

The work of the Civil Division is extremely important and is becoming more and more controversial. Indeed, the Department’s decision to seek a settlement of the tobacco litigation may yet complicate this nomination. We are discussing a hearing on that matter with representatives of the Department and I recently joined with Senators Kennedy and Durbin in a letter to the Attorney General on this subject.

Legislation
The bills on the agenda today include the Madrid Protocol Implementation Act, which is a bipartisan effort to allow one-stop, worldwide trademark registration. This will be of immense benefit to our small businesses as they compete in the global economy.

We also have an important extension of section 245(i) immigration authority in the form of the bill sponsored by Senator Kennedy and Senator Hagel. President Bush endorsed the extension of section 245(i) authority last week. I know that Senator Kennedy and Senator Hatch will want to be heard on this matter. I trust that Senator Kyl has had the opportunity over the last week to study the matter and discuss it with other Senators and that we will be able to proceed today.

Further, the Drug Competition Act that many of us on the Committee have sponsored is on the agenda. I have been working to accommodate Senator Hatch’s suggestions for improving this bill and will hold it over this week with the expectation that we will move on it at our next meeting. I think we have a consensus compromise worked out but staff needs a little time to put it together and I want to be sure other Members and their staffs have had an opportunity to review it before we proceed.

In addition, I have included the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, S.625, on the agenda so that this Committee can consider this important matter. It has bipartisan support and a number of cosponsors on the Committee. I believe that we are all familiar with the bill and hope that we can make prompt progress on it, as well.

Commemoratives
We also have two commemorative resolutions: one sponsored by Senator Thurmond with numerous cosponsors and another proposed by Senators Chafee and Reed of Rhode Island. Democrats had cleared the Chafee resolution for timely Senate action earlier this year, but it was held up by an anonymous objection on the Republican side. It is my hope that Committee action today will lead to approval by the Senate without additional complications or delay.