Political Quotes

“I rise to urge my colleagues to support the nomination of Judge Cynthia Bashant to the Federal district court in San Diego. As my colleagues know, I recommend candidates to the President through a bipartisan judicial selection process. Judge Bashant excelled in this process, earning my recommendation to President Obama. I am confident she will do an outstanding job on the Federal bench. She earned her bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1982 and her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1986. She spent 3 years practicing civil litigation at the law firm MacDonald Halsted & Layborne, which later became part of the firm Baker & McKenzie. In 1989, she joined the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, where she tried at least 15 cases in Federal court. Judge Bashant served as deputy chief of the narcotics unit in San Diego from 1995 to 1997, and then as chief of the border crimes unit from 1997 to 1998. During her prosecutorial career, she prosecuted numerous important cases. One was a major drug trafficking case that involved: the Sinaloa drug cartel; a 1,600-foot tunnel under the southern border; 23 defendants; and wiretaps in Chicago, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and San Diego. She prosecuted an individual who robbed more than 20 banks, a local record in San Diego at the time.…”