Prepared Floor Statemen t of Ranking Member Chuck Grassley
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Nomination of Arenda Lauretta Wright Allen
to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia
Wednesday, May11, 2011
Mr. President:
Today the Senate continues its very rapid pace to confirm another of President Obama’s judicial nominees. The Judiciary Committee’s workload has not slowed since this Congress convened. I am pleased to report we are ahead of the pace set in the 108th Congress. With this vote, the Senate will have confirmed 22 nominees in just 47 days. That is a rate of one judge almost every other day of the Senate session. We have confirmed 32 percent of President Obama’s judicial nominees this Congress, compared to only 29 percent of President Bush’s confirmed during the same time period.
We have also reported out of committee another 11 nominees. We have reported out of committee 46 percent of President Obama’s nominees sent to the Senate this year. That exceeds the 38 percent of President Bush’s nominees reported out during a comparable period.
Furthermore, we have held hearings on ten additional nominees. Some of those, I expect, will be reported out of committee at our markup scheduled for tomorrow. In total, we have taken positive action on 43 of 71 judicial nominees submitted this Congress, or approximately 61 percent of all nominees. I hope these facts will put to rest, once and for all, any complaints that we are delaying or obstructing judicial nominees.
There are currently 89 vacancies before the courts, yet the President has not sent nominees for 51 percent of those vacancies. He has, however, sent the Senate 4 nominees for seats which are not yet vacant. This is perplexing to me since the current vacancy rate is 10 percent. I would think the White House would concentrate on current vacancies. Nevertheless, we simply cannot confirm nominees who do not exist.
I have a few remarks regarding the nomination we are voting on today. Arenda Lauretta Wright Allen is nominated to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. Mrs. Allen received her B.A. from Kutztown State College in 1982 and her J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 1985. Following law school, she was commissioned into the United States Navy as an Ensign. She served there as a Legal Intern in the Naval Legal Service, Office of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In the same year, she was promoted to Lieutenant and became a Defense Attorney for the Navy. In 1988, the nominee became the Staff Judge Advocate at the Naval Air and Engineering Center where she was the sole legal advisor to the Commanding Officer.
Leaving the Navy in 1990, Mrs. Allen joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia as an Assistant United States Attorney. In 1991, she moved to the Eastern District of Virginia where she remained for the next 15 years as an Assistant United States Attorney. In 2005, the nominee left the United States Attorney’s Office to become an Assistant Federal Public Defender with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has given her the rating of Majority “Qualified”, Minority “Well Qualified.”
I congratulate the nominee or her achievement and public service. I urge my colleagues to support the nomination. Hopefully, she will be supported unanimously.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.