James M. Talent: “I have gone over her background. It is really extraordinary. I am a lawyer. I actually clerked on the court of appeals…”

“I have gone over her background. It is really extraordinary. I am a lawyer. I actually clerked on the court of appeals for a great judge, a good man, Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit. I know something about Federal judges and how they get there. I don't mean any disrespect. I am trained well enough as a lawyer not to do that. Judge Kuhl has been nominated to the Ninth Circuit. She has been a judge since 1995; before that, for 9 years she was a partner in a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. She was a litigator. From 1981 to 1986, she served in the Department of Justice as Deputy Solicitor Attorney, as Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and as Special Assistant to Attorney General William French Smith. She argued cases before the Supreme Court and supervised work of other attorneys. She clerked for Judge Anthony Kennedy, then a judge in the Ninth Circuit and now a member of the Supreme Court. In 1977, she graduated from Duke Law School. She has extraordinary bipartisan support.”