Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I too rise in support of Morgan Christen, the nominee who is before us today, and I add my thanks to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and, in fact, the entire Judiciary Committee, for their work in advancing not only Judge Christen as she has moved forward through the process, but it was several weeks ago that we were pleased to move through this body the nomination of Judge Sharon Gleason. I think it is worthy of note that Alaska in the past month now has moved forward two extraordinary women jurists who will work to serve us in an incredible way. If there is any regret I have, it is that such exceptional women are being taken from our State judiciary system and moved on to other positions, so there is a loss there. We are going to have to work to fill those back benches. But I am very pleased today to speak in support of Morgan Christen, a justice of the Alaskan Supreme Court who has been nominated to serve on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. This is a historic nomination. Only two Alaskans have had an opportunity to serve on the Ninth Circuit, and both of those judges were, somewhat predictably, men. The first Alaskan to serve was Robert Boochever, who was appointed by President Clinton. Judge Boochever accepted senior status in 1986, and we were saddened when he passed away on October 9, 2011, at the age of 94. The second on the Ninth Circuit was Andrew J. Kleinfeld, who accepted senior status on June 12 of last year.…”