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Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I am very pleased and proud to speak to my colleagues today about Vernon Oliver, whose nomination is before us. We will vote on it shortly. I anticipate that he will be approved, and I hope it will be with bipartisan support because Vernon Oliver represents exactly the kind of jurist, lawyer, public servant whom we want on the Federal bench.

Judges on our Federal trial courts are often the face and voice of justice. All too often, litigants are there for justice, and it is the end of the road for them one way or the other because they don't have the resources to appeal to the courts of appeal, which sit in other States, far away often, requiring expenditure of resources. So that district judge sitting in the court where, often, they live is the person who represents justice--the face and voice of justice--for them.

Vernon Oliver is exactly the kind of person who will be trusted to give justice. He grew up in Bridgeport, with not a lot in his home in the way of financial resources. He worked hard, went to the University of Connecticut for his B.A. and then for his J.D. The University of Connecticut prepared him for a life of public service, and that is what he has done, with a brief break for private practice and as a temporary assistant clerk for the Hartford Judicial District.

He joined the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice, serving in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, and then as a prosecutor in the Bristol Superior Court.

Then I had the great honor to hire Vernon Oliver to be an assistant attorney general. And I say I had the great honor because when I knew him first, when I met him, I knew he was the kind of person who would be a really superior, extraordinary assistant attorney general.

He went to work in the child protection unit, which essentially tries to protect children from abuse and neglect, tries to hold families together or reach some resolution when there is violence or other kind of dispute that divides them.

Here is what I learned about Vernon Oliver: He has a strong mind, he has a big heart, and he has a passion for justice. He handled dozens, hundreds, thousands of those cases over the time that he served as an assistant attorney general, and each one of them required him to focus his mind and his heart and that passion for justice. He took every one of them seriously, the same seriousness for every one. They are often extremely demanding, not just intellectually but emotionally, and he stepped up. He showed the fiber of his character.

He was nominated in 2009 to be a judge on the Connecticut Superior Court. His nomination was done by a Republican Governor, Jodi Rell. Throughout his 15 years on the bench, he has presided over numerous civil and criminal cases, including approximately 30 bench trials, approximately 20 jury trials, and thousands of hearings.

You don't really need to listen to me about Vernon Oliver; you can go to his colleagues, the legal community of Connecticut. A group of Connecticut attorneys, many of whom have practiced in front of Judge Oliver, wrote that he has ``an exceptionally keen legal mind'' and ``is committed to the fair and impartial administration of justice.'' The George W. Crawford Black Bar Association noted that ``[Judge Oliver's] decisions are well reasoned and thoughtful'' and that ``[p]ut simply, he is a phenomenal judge.''

He is a phenomenal person, not just an extraordinary judge. That is why Connecticut State Representative Christie Carpino, a Republican, wrote this to the committee, our committee, the Judiciary Committee: ``[Judge Oliver's] breadth of knowledge in both criminal and civil law, as well as the diversity of his judicial assignments, makes him uniquely qualified to be appointed to the federal bench'' and that ``he has the demeanor one could only hope all jurists possess.''

I take this time to talk to my colleagues because I think we need to be mindful of a standard, a standard of excellence on our Federal bench. I thank and commend President Biden for this nomination because he has recognized the importance of diversity, as well as high performance intellectually, and he has enabled us, I think, to raise that standard.

Judge Oliver is a perfect example of that standard, and he is the gold standard we are seeking to achieve and I believe we are achieving when we confirm him and others who have those same qualities.

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