Levin Statement on the Nomination of Judge Gershwin Drain
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Madam President, I'm very pleased that the Senate is now taking up the nomination of Gershwin Drain to be a judge on the Eastern District Court of Michigan. Judge Drain has an impressive legal career. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law school and then went on to earn a masters of judicial studies degree in 1991. He has served in our trial courts in Michigan for something like 25 years, all three of our trial courts, from the lower court, which is a so-called district court, to the recorders court and the circuit courts. He has served with distinction in these courts as a trial judge for over two decades.
He's demonstrated a career-long dedication to helping the people understand how our legal system works. As a longtime columnist for the Michigan Chronicle, he has explained often complex legal issues, broadening understanding of and appreciation for our courts. Beyond his writing, Judge Drain has been very active in the community, including membership on the Education Committee of the Southfield Christian School Board.
It's important to note that the confirmation of Judge Drain would help to remedy the judicial emergency in the Eastern District of Michigan. Vacancies and caseloads in the eastern district meet the federal judicial system's definition of an emergency. These judicial emergencies lead to delays and, even worse, to the risk of rush to judgments that could deprive Americans of the impartial justice that is so much a necessary component of our democratic system of government.
Judge Drain was asked about some of his past writings and statements during his confirmation hearing at the Judiciary Committee on such issues as capital punishment and mandatory minimum sentences. He indicated that some of those views – some of them decades ago, as a matter of fact – have evolved. He was candid in saying where they have changed. I don't agree with everything that judge Drain said 20 years ago, but, nonetheless, without the slightest hesitancy, Senator Stabenow and I have recommended him to be a judge on the Eastern District Court for Michigan.
The test of his fairness has been shown by the fact that he has served with distinction for over two decades on trial courts. Another test of his fairness is how the legal community feels about Judge Drain. Senator Stabenow and I have appointed a Judicial Advisory Commission to make recommendations to us for the judicial positions that we have on the Federal District Court. His nomination was the result of an examination by and consideration of a whole large number, a host of people who are interested in being federal court judges in the Eastern District. His competition was great. There are literally dozens of qualified people who we considered, and more accurately, our Judicial Advisory Commission considered to recommend to the President for nomination. He was one of the persons who they recommended.
This is a commission that we have appointed in order to try to remove the nominees that we recommend to the president -- at least the persons we recommend to the president for nomination -- to remove them as much as we can from partisan politics and to put them instead under consideration to be a judge with great objectivity. We have a broadly based commission, and I think the best test of his fairness and his objectivity and his inability to judge people and not based on anything other than the merits of the case in front of him is testified to more than anything by the fact that the commission, the broadly based judicial advisory commission, recommended his nomination to us as one of the people to be considered, and we recommended him to the president.
The American bar association has also spoken on this issue. He has been recommended unanimously as "qualified" for the federal bench by the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary of the American Bar Association.
So we're in a position here where we have a judicial emergency on the Eastern District Court. We have a situation where the delays which result deprive Americans of what they are entitled to. We have a nominee who's been recommended by a broadly based commission, which Senator Stabenow and I have appointed. He's been given a unanimous rating of "qualified." He said and he believes and he has shown in practice that -- quote – “My personal beliefs, both past and present, have no bearing on the decisions that I make in court." The notion that he would place his own personal judgment in place of the law is contradicted by not just his testimony, but it's by a record of decisions that indicate that he abides by the concept of a judge as an impartial arbiter.
So Senator Stabenow and I strongly urge our colleagues to confirm Judge Drain. We hope that can happen in the next hour.