mr. verrilli's nomination.ry committee heard from many respected lawyers from across the political spectrum in support for mr. verrilli's nomination. eight former solicitors general from both republican and democrat administrations, among them republicans charles freeh, kenneth starr and gregory garrick concluded mr. verrilli is ideally suited to carry out the crucial task assigned to the solicitor general and to maintain the traditions of the office of solicitor general. more than 50 prominent supreme court practitioners urged the senate to confirm mr. verrilli's nomination, including conservatives like maureen ma hoe ni and miguel estrada. they wrote his approach of practicing law throughout his career, his insistence on coherently laying out reasons for the positions he is urging proves that don will protect and promote the rule of law. and i ask unanimous consent that copies of the letters of support be included in the record at the conclusion of my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lea

mr. verrilli, i believe, is a good man. in normal circumstances, i would be willing to accept his nomination and vote for him. i'm not going to try to slow it down, glad to have the vote and cast my vote. i'm sure he'll be confirmed. but it's been reported in the media that president obama has now appointed 13 to 16 lawyers to high-ranking positions in the department who themselves previously represented alleged terrorists or their supporters or were senior partners at their law firms when their firms decided to accept alleged terrorists as clients. consistently, they support the view that terrorists are not -- are criminals and not unlawful combatants. that's all right to defend unpopular people, criminals that are unpopular. it's perfectly all right. but i just want to say as someone who loves the department, i am concerned about the positions they are taking on the question of the civilian trials of military combatants. i think it is wrong, and i have voted for the last one i'm going to vote for in positions of the depar