jack mcconnell and his community leadership has shown he has the legal intelligence, compassion and independence to be a distinguished jurist. after no action was take on mr. mcconnell's nomination by this body in the previous session, the providence journal wrote in november 2010 that mr. mcconnell is one of america's most able, successful litigators, has been a generous leader in philanthropic activities. his character and deep love of the law suggests strongly that he will function as a disinterested judge, one able to look at the facts of each case in the light of a close and rigorous reading of statutory and constitutional law and precedent. indeed, his legal work and community leadership suggests that he would be a distinguished jurist. he is a man of tremendous character recognized by community leaders. the institute for the study and practice of nonviolence, an innovative organization in the south side of providence, their executive director wrote in strong support. rhode island supreme court joseph wiseburger, one of the most respected jurists in the history of rhode island said he has

this lack of temperament and novel view of the law is indicative of the type of judge jack mcconnell would be. i'm sorry to say biased against a certain class of people and untethered to the rule of law. mr. mcconnell's practices are also, exist under an ethical cloud throughout his career. he and his law firm made billions of dollars and a name for themselves through their pioneering practice of soliciting no-bid contingent fee contracts from state officials. for example, mr. mcconnell and his firm played a central role in litigating lawsuits brought by state attorney generals first against tobacco companies and then lead-based paint manufacturers. of course i'm not saying that tobacco companies and other companies shouldn't be held accountable for harmful products, but the purpose of the law should be to compensate those people who have been aggrieved and to deter others from acting in the same fashion in the future. and the litigation that he constructed and devised, the scheme he literally created did none of that. the question is ultimately: where did the money go? under these co

well, jack mcconnell, the nominee, and his law firm whose web site says mcconnell played a central role in the historic litigation against the tobacco industry in which $246 billion in all was recovered. it says on behalf of the state attorneys general he served as negotiator and primary drafter of the settlement agreement. as a result mr. mcconnell told us in the judiciary committee he expects to collect between $2.5 billion and $3.1 billion a year from now through 2024. and what's more, jack mcconnell now finds himself nominated to be a federal judge in whose court future ingenious but ethically dubious schemes can be expected to have a warm reception. mr. president, this is the type of thing that stuart taylor, a well-respected legal commentator, called -- he said the rule of law has now morphed under these sorts of schemes under the rule of lawyers. he's talked about the sequel to this litigation i've described in this story which was the lead paint lawsuit which we've talked about a little before which was unanimously rejected by the rhode island supreme court frivolous litigation.

in this case, we have an outstanding lawyer, jack mcconnell. the president has nominated him three times. he has more than 25 years of experience as a lawyer in private practice. he has the strong support of both rhode island senators. individuals and organizations across the political spectrum of rhode island have called for his confirmation. the providence journal endorses his nomination by saying in his legal work and community leadership, he has shown he has a legal intelligence, character, compassion and independence to be a distinguished jurist. leading republican figures in rhode island support him. now, some oppose him because he successfully represented plaintiffs, including the state of rhode island itself, in lawsuits against lead paint manufacturers. some here in the senate may be wanting to support the lead paint industry. i support those who want to go after the people who poison children. that's what mr. mcconnell did. it seems he is to be punished because he wanted to stand up for children. well, i'll stand with the children aga

hoped two weeks ago when 11 republican senators joined in voting to end the filibuster against jack mcconnell of rhode island that the senate was moving away from partisan attacks on judicial nominations. indeed, for the sixth time since president obama took office just over a couple of years ago, we've had to seek cloture to overcome a republican filibuster on one of president obama's well-qualified judicial nominations. those senators who claim to subscribe to a standard that prohibits filibusters of judicial nominees except in extraordinary circumstances should not be able to support this filibuster because, as i've said, there are no extraordinary circumstances here. i think of the memorandum of understanding i referred to earlier saying how we should fulfill our responsibilities under the advice and consent clause of the united states constitution. in that, these 14 senators wrote about the need for the president to consult with senators. well, this president, unlike his predecessor, has been a model in that regard. unlike president bush whose nominees i always supported, president obama

it when 11 republican senators joined and voted to end the filibuster with the nomination of jack mcconnell for the district court for the district of rhode island. in doing so, a supermajority of the senate came together to reject a new standard which i believe is being unfairly applied to president obama's district court nominee, a standard i've never seen applied to any president, republican or democratic. now nearly 20 months -- and keep in mind, madam president, this is a judicial emergency. this is one of those judicial emergencies that the chief justice of the united states had been urging us to fill. it's taken nearly 20 months before -- since his confirmation hearing and then having had his nomination reported favorably by the senate judiciary committee not once, not twice, not three times, but four times. extraordinary measure. judge chen's nomination should have an up or down vote in the senate. it will be only the second asian-pacific american on that district court bench in the 150-year history in the northern district of california. madam president, nobody -- nobody, no matter

now, i hope two weeks ago when senators joined in voting in the filibuster against judge jack mcconnell of rhode island. this for the day, president obama took office. indeed, for the sixth time since president obama took office, just over a couple of years ago, we've had to see cloture to overcome a republican filibuster, one of president obama's well-qualified judicial nominations. senators subscribe to a standard that prohibits filibusters of judicial no , nominees expect in extraordinary circumstances should not be able to support this filibuster because as i said there's no extraordinary circumstances here. i think the memorandum of understanding i referred to earlier saying how we should prepare responsibility. in that, we wrote for the president to consult senators. with this president, unlike his predecessor, has been a model in that regard. unlike president bush whose nominees they always supported, president obama actually has consulted with both republican and democrat senators in the home states, and unlike my preed predecessor, the republican chairman of the judiciary commi

hoped two weeks ago when 11 republican senators joined in voting to end the filibuster against jack mcconnell of rhode island that the senate was moving away from partisan attacks on judicial nominations. indeed, for the sixth time since president obama took office just over a couple of years ago, we've had to seek cloture to overcome a republican filibuster on one of president obama's well-qualified judicial nominations. those senators who claim to subscribe to a standard that prohibits filibusters of judicial nominees except in extraordinary circumstances should not be able to support this filibuster because, as i've said, there are no extraordinary circumstances here. i think of the memorandum of understanding i referred to earlier saying how we should fulfill our responsibilities under the advice and consent clause of the united states constitution. in that, these 14 senators wrote about the need for the president to consult with senators. well, this president, unlike his predecessor, has been a model in that regard. unlike president bush whose nominees i always supported, president obama

mcconnell: the senate will shortly vote on the cloture motion on the jack mcconnell nomination. we have been working in good faith with our democratic colleagues to confirm consensus judicial nominees in general and to fill judicial emergencies in particular, so it's disappointing that our democratic friends have chosen to depart from this bipartisan practice and depress the mcconnell nomination, which would not fill a judicial emergency and is about as far from a consensus nomination as one can imagine. mr. mcconnell described his judicial philosophy in this way -- "there are wrongs that need to be righted, and that's how i see the law." end quote. in mr. mcconnell's eyes, the wrongdoers in america are invariably its job creators. his legal career has been marked by a pervasive and persistent hostility to american job creators. this bias against one part of american society is fundamentally anathetical to the rule of law and it has led him to take troubling actions to show his lifetime position as a fair and impartial judicial officer. for example, he has filed what his hometow