Mr. President,
I rise in support of the nomination of Robin S. Rosenbaum to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida.
Although it is the practice and tradition of the Senate to not confirm Circuit nominees in the closing months of a Presidential election year, we continue to confirm consensus District Judge nominees. We have now confirmed 151 nominees of this President to the district and circuit courts. We also have confirmed two Supreme Court nominees during President Obama’s term.
I have heard some members repeatedly ask the question, “What is different about this President that he has to be treated differently than all these other Presidents?” I won’t speculate as to any inference that might be intended by that question, but I can tell you that this President is not being treated differently than previous Presidents. By any objective measure, this President has been treated fairly and consistent with past Senate practices.
For example, with regard to the number of confirmations, let me put that in perspective for my colleagues with an apples-to-apples comparison. The last time the Senate confirmed two Supreme Court nominees was during President Bush’s second term. And during President Bush’s entire second term the Senate confirmed a total of only 119 district and circuit court nominees. With Ms. Rosenbaum’s confirmation today, we will have confirmed 32 more District and Circuit nominees for President Obama than we did for President Bush, in similar circumstances.
During the last Presidential election year, 2008, the Senate confirmed a total of 28 judges - 24 District and 4 Circuit. Today, we will exceed that number, as well. We have already confirmed 5 Circuit nominees, and this will be the 24th District judge confirmed this year. Those who say that this President is being treated differently either fail to recognize history or want to ignore the facts.
After graduating from the University of Miami School of Law in 1991, Judge Rosenbaum worked as a Trial Attorney for the Federal Programs Branch of the Department of Justice. Her practice involved defending the constitutionality of federal statutes and agency programs. In September 1995, she joined the Independent Counsel Office’s investigation of former United States Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown. She served as staff counsel, participating in the criminal investigation and providing advice to other team members. Upon closure of the investigation, Judge Rosenbaum joined the law firm of Holland & Knight LLP as an associate. While there, from 1996 to 1997, she worked on a variety of civil matters, including federal employment law. Judge Rosenbaum then accepted a position as a law clerk for Judge Stanley Marcus on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, where she worked from January to October 1998.
After her clerkship, Judge Rosenbaum became an Assistant U.S. Attorney. She specialized in criminal prosecutions such as securities fraud, bank fraud, identity theft, tax fraud, telemarketing fraud, health care fraud, internet fraud, and computer crimes. In 2002, she became the chief of the Economic Crimes Section for the Central Division (Fort Lauderdale), which gave her supervisory responsibilities over eight to ten other Assistant U.S. Attorneys. She held that title until her appointment as a Magistrate Judge in 2007.
In 2007, the U.S. District Judges for the Southern District of Florida appointed Judge Rosenbaum to be a U.S. Magistrate Judge. As Magistrate Judge in the District of Southern District of Florida, she manages all aspects of the pre-trial process in civil and criminal cases: conducting evidentiary hearings, ruling on non-dispositive motions, making reports and recommendations regarding dispositive motions, and issuing criminal complaints, search warrants, and arrest warrants.
The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated Judge Rosenbaum as “Well Qualified.”