Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise in strong support of the nomination of Sara Darrow to serve as a district court judge for the Central District of Illinois. Sara Darrow is a superb nominee, and she will make an excellent addition to the Federal bench. Her nomination is not controversial. She had her hearing before the Judiciary Committee in April and was reported out of the committee by unanimous voice vote on May 12. Sara Darrow's name was recommended to me by a bipartisan merit selection committee that I established to consider applicants for judicial vacancies. I was proud to recommend her name to the President last year, and I was pleased to see the President nominate her to fill the Central District judgeship that was vacated when Judge Joe Billy McDade took senior status last year. I want to thank Chairman Pat Leahy of the Judiciary Committee for moving Ms. Darrow's nomination through the committee. I also want to thank Senator Mark Kirk for his support of this nomination. Once the Senate confirms Sara Darrow, we will finally have a full complement of judges for the Central District of Illinois. Last year there was only one judge in this district--Chief Judge Mike McCuskey-- and three judgeships were vacant. These vacancies left the Central District in a dire situation. Cases were grinding to a halt, and Judge McCuskey had to drive all across the State to try to keep the dockets moving.…”