siegelman rather interesting because when i was in the then all democratic alabama state senate, mr. siegelman was in one section of the democratic party, i was in another. in fact, his faction was the one that supported another lawyer for the judgeship that i ultimately got. within my first three months on the bench, i had enjoined him from failing to include the whig party candidate on the statewide ballot. in the mid '90s, he calls several press conferences and raked me over the coals after i enjoined him under title vii from enforcing a state law which barred consideration of anyone who had ever been the victim of a crime from a law enforcement position. so publicly, our relationship was less than a mutual h)a@ her own, more or less. i pointed out that i tried numerous criminal and civil cases since my sister's conviction without objection from the government, and so i proceeded on in the case. i denied dr. bobo's motion for double jeopardy, i mean motion to dismiss based on double jeopardy grounds, and the government then filed a motion to disqualify mr. siegelman's lawyers. and

siegelman rather interesting because when i was in the then all democratic alabama state senate, mr. siegelman was in one section of the democratic party,

siegelman rather interesting because when i was in the then all democratic alabama state senate, mr. siegelman was in one section of the democratic party, i was in another. in fact, his faction was the one that supported another lawyer for the judgeship that i ultimately got. within my first three months on the bench, i had enjoined him from failing to include the whig party candidate on the statewide ballot. in the mid '90s, he calls several press conferences and raked me over the coals after i enjoined him under title vii from enforcing a state law which barred consideration of anyone who had ever been the victim of a crime from a law enforcement position. so publicly, our relationship was less than a mutual admiration society, and privately, we didn't know each other. [ laughter ] in the, in response to that media campaign, i took judicial notice that my daughter was only an associate at the law firm at one time, never was a partner, and wasn't even there when the governor was indicted, the ex-governor was indicted, and that in any event, it was the attorney general, bill frey, wh

kimball served in the alabama state senate for the 12th district of alabama. and he also managed b.i.g. jim fullson's gubernatorial campaign in 1940. he served in the great state of alabama. until his retirement in 1984, he owned and operated fayco, which was located in fayette, alabama, which is in the district i am privileged to represent. he served on various civic and other organizations such as lions club, the fayette chamber of commerce, the alabama road builders association, just to name a few. mr. kimball has made so many great contributions to alabama and our nation. it is an honor to pay tribute to this great alabamian and this great american. i am thankful to know mr. fuller kimball as an inspiring example to all of us. i look forward to having the benefit of his wise counsel for many years to come and i wish him a very happy birthday this saturday. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, for what purpose do you rise, sir? mr. dingell: to address the house for one mi

. >> i am jeff sessions, senator from the state of alabama and ranking member of the senate judiciary committee. before i talk about the federal courts, i want to make note that in the early hours of the morning, 65 years ago today, a generation's worth the brave americans sailed across the troubled waters of the english channel to an unknown fate on the beaches of normandy. they came from all walks of american life, from the northern cities to small southern towns, united behind a devotion to their country and a belief that democracy and freedom should not perish from the earth. with a keen awareness of the danger that lay ahead, they stormed the court -- coast of normandy with a four century that would forever change the human course of history. too few of those heroes as set out across so stormy waters on june 6, 1944, are with us today, but we take a moment now to honor their great sacrifice, to thank all those who have served our country, and to keep alive the memories of lost loved ones. the greatest generation bestowed on us the gifts of a continued liberty and democratic gover

senator from alabama. i want to thank senator mcconnell for his leadership in so many ways, but in particular his concern that he's shown repeatedly on the united states judiciary. he's from a member of the judiciary committee, and he takes these issues seriously, and i think it is important that we all do so. i have to say that i'm disappointed that this morning that we learned from media reports, i did, that the chairman of the judiciary committee, senator layly, announced we would begin the hearing on july 13th on judge sotomayor. i believe that's too early. i don't believe it's necessary. it is far more important that we do this matter right than we do it quick. when the announcement was made, president obama said that the time we sl look to was october 1, when the new supreme court term starts. and i think that always was an achieveable goal, and it is something i said we could achieve and do it in the right way. the question is, can we get all this consumer done in this rush-rush fashion. it will be the shortest govern -- shortest confirmation time of any nominee. days time shorter than chief justice roberts. we had a need to move that a bit, be

virginia, jo bonner from alabama and senator sessions from alabama, joined several other hundred members of family and friends as a 21-gun salute and "taps" was played for the united states air force lieutenant clon, mark e. straten ii. the somber silence of the gravesites were broken with this tribute. colonel straten was trained as a navigator on an air force k.c. 135. in his honor, one of thighs massive aircraft flew low and slow over arlington cemetery, over the flag-draped coffin of one of air force's finest. i gave his life helping the afghan people to know dignity of a life lived in freedom. he was assigned to the joint staff at the pentagon here in washington, d.c., and he served as the commander of the pan share provincial reconstruction team in afghanistan. on may 26, 2009, mark died at bagram air field of wounds that he sustained from an improvised explosive device, what we call an i.e.d. mark had strong texas ties. he graduated from texas a&m university in december of 1991 with a degree in political science. and while at texas a&m he was a member of squadron 1 of the corps of cadets. he has numerous air force commendations including the purple heart and the b

alabama. a senator: i would ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. a senatormr. sessions: the nomif a new justice to the supreme court of the united states brings to our minds a core question both for the senate and the american people, than is what is the proper role of a federal judge in our republic? answering this question is not simply an academic task. it's fundamental to what we will be doing here. how the american people and their representatives and their senators, the ones who have been delegated that responsibility, answer this question impacts not only the future of our judiciary, but i think future of our legal system and the american experience, really. i would just say that from traveling the world as part of the armed services committee, i'm more convinced than ever before that the glory of our american experience, our liberty and our prosperity is based on the fact that we have a legal system you can count on. and when you go to places like afghanistan or iraq or pakistan or the west bank and -- and you see people -- bosnia, and they just can't get a legal system working. and it does not work and people are not protected

states. alabama, mississippi, louisiana, and then texas. and this was a chart that when senator dorgan offered his amendment, he offered up this chart showing the western planning area of the gulf, the central planning area and what is known as the eastern planning area. the chart shows that in legislation that we passed in 2006, a compromise was struck whereby the oil industry could drill in an additional 8.3 million acres in addition to the 33 million acres that they have under lease in the central and western gulf, 33 million that they have under lease that they have not drilled, that we worked out an additional 8.3 million acres in this tan area called lease sale 181. in exchange, the compromise was, for the protection of the gulf of mexico, everything east of this longitude line known as the military mission line. why? because everything east of this line is the largest testing and training area for the united states military in the world. it is where we are training our f-22 pilots out of tyndall air force base. it is where we are training our navy pilots in pensacola. and