Prepared Floor Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley
Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Nomination of Steve C. Jones to be United States District Judge, Northern District of Georgia
Nomination of Amy Totenberg to be United States District Judge, Northern District of Georgia
Monday, February 28, 2011
Mr. President. We are continuing in our cooperative effort to fill vacancies in the federal judiciary that have been designated as judicial emergencies. Today, the Senate will confirm two more of President Obama’s judicial nominees. I am pleased we are moving forward on consensus nominees who will lessen the burden on our overworked courts.
My Republican colleagues and I continue to demonstrate our ability and desire to work with the President and the Democratic majority. We will have confirmed seven judicial nominees in just 17 short days the Senate has been in session this Congress. We have reported out of committee a total of 15 judicial nominees, or 29 percent of the total nominees submitted. We have already held two hearings in committee on 8 judicial nominees, with additional nominees scheduled for a hearing later this week. With this quick and productive pace, we have taken positive action on 55 percent of the judicial nominations sent to the Committee this year.
I continue to work with the Chairman to ensure all nominees are afforded a fair but thorough process, in a timely manner. I have appreciated the Chairman’s courtesy as we work together to set schedules and agendas. It is imperative that the Administration work with us, as well, to fill vacancies. I am particularly concerned about those seats designated as judicial emergencies.
We continue to hear about the high judicial vacancy rate. I think the record is clear that the Senate is addressing that issue in vigorous manner. However, I continue to note that the President has failed to submit a nomination for over half of the vacancies. For judicial emergencies, over 57 percent of those seats have no nominee.
The two vacancies we are filling today took some time for a nomination to be sent to the Senate. Both seats became vacant in December 2008, at the end of the Bush administration. It took President Obama over a year to name a nominee for one seat, and nearly a year and a half to nominate for the other seat. So those who are concerned about a high vacancy rate in the federal judiciary should pay attention to the nomination process, not just Senate confirmations.
I will say a few words about the nominees who are scheduled to have votes today. I thank our leadership for the reasonable arrangement that was reached to consider these nominations.
First, Amy Totenberg is nominated to be a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Georgia. She received her A.B., magna cum laude, and her J.D. from Harvard University. Upon graduation, she joined the Law Project as a partner, where she focused on federal constitutional and employment law. She left the Law Project to become a solo practitioner where she maintained a general civil practice. Ms. Totenberg also served as Municipal Court Judge for Atlanta, and was appointed by the Atlanta Board of Education as the first in-house general counsel for the Atlanta Public School District.
Over the past decade, while maintaining a solo practice, Ms. Totenberg has spent the majority of her time as a Special Master, Monitor and arbitrator/monitor for the U.S. District Courts in Maryland and Washington, D.C. The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated her “Well-Qualified.”.
Our second nominee, Steve C. Jones, is also nominated to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia. Judge Jones received his B.B.A. and his J.D. from the University of Georgia.
An experienced jurist, he began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney for the Western Judicial District of Georgia. In 1993, Judge Jones began service as a Municipal Court Judge for Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. He was appointed by Governor Zell Miller, in 1995, to serve as a Superior Court Judge for the Western Judicial Circuit. He was subsequently re-elected four times and is the presiding judge for the Felony Drug Court. Aside from his daily duties to the bench, Judge Jones was appointed by the Georgia Supreme Court to serve on the Judicial Qualifications Commission. He also functioned as its Chairman from 2002 to 2006. On and off the bench, Judge Jones has contributed to his community. He has invested time to help Georgia Legal Services, as well as a local anti-poverty initiative, Partners for a Prosperous Athens/OneAthens. The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated him “Well-Qualified.”
I support these two nominees, and congratulate them for their achievement and public service. I will continue to work with the Chairman to move forward on consensus nominees, as we have done with these two nominations.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.