clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators hereby move to bring to a close the debate on jon david levy of maine to be district judge of maine, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of jon david levy of maine to be united states district court judge for the district of maine shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 63, the nays are 34. and the motion is agreed to. under the freef order, the senate will resume lenl -- under the previous order, the senate will resume legislative session. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. a senator: i wish to speak as if in morning business for one minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wicker: thank you, madam president. i simply want to take a moment to say a few words about the devastating storms that swept through my home state of mis

the clerk: jon david levy of maine to be united states district judge. mr. reid: there is a cloture motion i ask to be reported, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of jon david levy of maine to be united states district judge for the district of maine signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. reid: i ask consent the reading of the names not be necessary. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i send a -- i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed nay. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes e

jon david levy of maine to be united states district judge for the district of maine. department of defense, robert o. work of virginia to be deputy secretary. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i have not had the opportunity, and it's my fault, to speak to the chairman of the judiciary committee, but hoping that he won't be upset, i ask consent that the two minutes prior to this first vote be yielded back and then i will talk to senator leahy to see how he feels about the others. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the lipman nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

my history with jon levy is kind of interesting.e was one of my very first appointments to the bench when i was governor of maine in 1995. and the important thing that i want to get across is i didn't know him. he wasn't a crib tor, a -- a contributor, supporter, political ally in any way shape or form. what he was at that time was a really smart lawyer with a judicial demeanor. he was recommended to me. he was discovered, if you will, by a nonpartisan judicial selection committee. i interviewed him, met him, liked him and appointed him to the maine district court, which is our lower court of sort of general jurisdiction where it's really the people's court. he excelled in that court both he in terms of his decision-making skills, but also his demeanor and his ability to interpret and apply the law in very real and practical circumstances. he was so good, as a matter of fact, that as i was leaving the governorship in the last year or so, i had the opportunity to appoint him to maine's supreme court. in fact, i believe it's true that