Roy Blunt: “I thank my good friend for yielding and for taking consideration of my schedule. I rise to support Judge Brian Wimes as…”

“I thank my good friend for yielding and for taking consideration of my schedule. I rise to support Judge Brian Wimes as the nominee for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri. He spent his entire career working in the public sector. He has been involved in many groups and organizations dedicated to serving disadvantaged individuals. He was born in Kansas City, MO. He earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Kansas. We don't hold that against him. He got his law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in 1994. When he graduated, he became the attorney advisor for the litigation branch of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Department of Justice here in Washington. Judge Wimes represented the Bureau in civil actions by inmates throughout the country. In 1995, he left the Bureau and became an assistant prosecuting attorney for the Jackson County prosecutor's office in Kansas City. Beginning in 2001, Judge Wimes served as the Jackson County drug court commissioner for more than 5 years. The drug courts in our State, and in other places, have served a good and integral role in combating drug abuse. The drug court is a program that offers nonviolent first- time offenders a chance to participate in an outpatient-based treatment program rather than to face prosecution. More than 1,200 people have graduated from the Jackson County drug court.…”