On the recordFebruary 7, 2011
in addition to my support for Judge Saldana and Mr. Holmes, I rise in support of Marco A. Hernandez to be U.S. district judge for the District of Oregon. I am pleased the Senate is finally turning to this nomination. This is the third Congress to consider Mr. Hernandez's nomination. President Bush nominated Judge Hernandez to this seat in the 110th Congress. Unfortunately, his nomination stalled in the Judiciary Committee, although he had the full support of every Republican on the committee. After pending for over 5 months with no action, his nomination, at that time, was returned to the President. This vacancy has been designated a judicial emergency. Therefore, I would have expected his nomination to have been made very early in the 111th Congress. However, it was not sent to the Senate until July of last year. Because of that delayed nomination, the Senate was unable to complete action on the nomination in that Congress. At the close of the 111th Congress, the nomination was again returned to the President. Mr. Hernandez has been rated "qualified" by the American Bar Association. He received his B.A. from Western Oregon State College and his J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law. After graduating from law school, he served as an attorney for Oregon Legal Services, where he represented migrant farmworkers. He later joined the Washington County district attorney's office as a deputy district attorney.
