XXXX Voted For President’s Nominee for U.S. District Court in Eastern District of New York. In 2012, XXXX voted for confirmation of President Obama's nomination of Margo Kitsy Brodie of New York to be a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The nominee was confirmed by a vote of 86-2. [Vote #23, 2/27/12] XXXX Supported President’s Nominee for U.S. District Court in Western District of Missouri. In 2012, XXXX voted for the confirmation of President Obama's nomination of Mary Elizabeth Phillips of Missouri to be a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The nominee was confirmed by a vote of 95- 2. [Vote #26, 3/6/12] XXXX Supported President’s Nominee for U.S. District Court in Eastern District of Washington. In 2012, XXXX voted for the confirmation of President Obama's nomination of Thomas Owen Rice of Washington to be a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. The nominee was confirmed by a vote of 93-4. [Vote #27, 3/6/12] XXXX Supported President’s Nominee for U.S. District Court in Central District of California. In 2012, XXXX voted for the confirmation of President Obama's nomination of Michael Walter Fitzgerald of California to be a judge for the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California. The nominee was confirmed by a vote of 91-6. [Vote #50, 3/15/12] XXXX Supported President’s Nominee for U.S. District Court in Northern District of West Virginia. In 2012, XXXX voted for the confirmation of President Obama's nomination of Gina Marie Groh of West Virginia to be a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. The nominee was confirmed by a vote of 95-2. [Vote #49, 3/15/12] XXXX Voted For Anti-Women’s Rights Nominee J. Leon Holmes. In 2004, XXXX voted to confirm Leon Holmes, a very conservative judge who was the leader in the right-to-life movement in Arkansas, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. In 1980, Holmes wrote that abortion should not be available to rape victims because conceptions from rape occur with the same frequency as snow in Miami. Sen. Patrick Leahy called Holmes one of the most “intolerant” nominees ever considered by the Senate, accusing Bush of nominating someone who would pursue his anti-abortion agenda and other conservative causes from the bench. “The White House is saying we don’t want an independent federal judge; we want someone who will be an arm of the Republican Party,” Leahy argued. [Vote 153, 7/6/04; The New Yorker, 05/26/03; Los Angeles Times, 7/7/04] XXXX Did Not Vote on Confirmation For Conservative Judicial Activist Nominee Jeffrey S. Sutton. In 2003, XXXX did not vote in the confirmations vote for Jeffrey Sutton. Sutton, who was nominated to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had a strong judicial activist bent. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy objected to Sutton, writing: “Mr. Sutton has a legal philosophy focused on limiting Congress’ historic role in protecting the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans. He has sought to weaken, among other laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. His extreme judicial philosophy would undermine the rights of state workers, disabled individuals, women, children, racial and ethnic minorities, and older Americans.” The NAACP labeled Sutton a “right-wing extremist. [Vote 135, 4/29/03; Leahy Statement, 4/29/03; NAACP Legislative Report Card, 2003-04] XXXX Voted For Racist Nominee Charles Pickering. In 2003, XXXX voted to confirm Charles Pickering, who was nominated to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and had been criticized for his racist positions. “The debate over the nomination had centered on Judge Pickering’s civil rights record as a Mississippi lawyer, state lawmaker and federal judge over the course of decades. Senate Democrats argued that he did not deserve elevation because he had written an article as a young man recommending ways to strengthen Mississippi’s anti-miscegenation laws, left the Democratic Party in 1964 when the national party tried to integrate the state delegation to the national convention and, more recently, presided over a 1994 trial in which he took extraordinary steps to reduce the sentence of a man convicted in a cross-burning incident.” [Vote 419, 10/30/03; New York Times, 01/17/04] 240