Jon Kyl: “I rise today to respond briefly to the comments made by Members on the other side of the aisle about the nomination of…”

“I rise today to respond briefly to the comments made by Members on the other side of the aisle about the nomination of J. Leon Holmes to be a District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Mr. Holmes has been criticized for a number of comments--some of which are more than two decades old. Yet his opponents ignore the best evidence about Mr. Holmes: the people who have known him well throughout the past two decades of his legal career. As Senator Lincoln of Arkansas recently noted in reaffirming her support for Mr. Holmes, letters of support from: the legal community in Arkansas, many of whom share different views than Mr. Holmes . . . describe him as ``fair,'' ``compassionate,'' ``even-handed,'' and ``disciplined.'' His colleagues hold him in high esteem. That is from a press release of Senator Blanche Lincoln, April 11, 2003. The other home State Senator, Senator Pryor also, of course, a Democrat--supports Mr. Holmes. Additionally, the strong support of Mr. Holmes' colleagues in the legal community caused the American Bar Association to give him its highest rating of ``well-qualified.'' Finally, the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette, Holmes' hometown paper, is intimately familiar with his record and strongly supports him.”