Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee - Nomination

Statement

Senator Jay Rockefeller provided the following statement to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in support of Stephanie Thacker, a West Virginia lawyer, who has been nominated by the President to serve as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The seat became vacant in March 2011 after the death of Judge Blane Michael, who had held the position since 1993. Rockefeller encouraged the President to nominate Ms. Thacker, a native of Hamlin, West Virginia, for this federal judgeship.

Senator Jay Rockefeller

Statement before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

On the Nomination of Stephanie Dawn Thacker

As Prepared for Delivery

October 4, 2011

Senator Durbin, Senator Grassley and Members of the Judiciary Committee, thank you for holding this hearing today.

I am deeply honored to introduce Stephanie Dawn Thacker, one of the finest judicial nominees I have ever known.

She is joined today by her husband John Carr, also an esteemed lawyer, her sister Samantha Sullivan, a teacher, and her nephew Wade Sullivan. Not present but I think watching closely on television in West Virginia and surely beaming with pride is her mother, Katie Thacker, and father Rod Young.

Stephanie's family has many reasons to be proud of her, and she of them, and we are all fortunate for their dedication to their country and to my home state.

For myself, I will tell you that I am impressed by her superior intellect, her passion for the law, her unquestioned integrity, and her great character. In 40 years of public service, I have rarely come across anyone who is more suited for the federal appellate bench.

Another such person was my dear friend Judge M. Blane Michael, who served for more than 17 years in the very judicial seat for which Stephanie Thacker has been nominated.

Like Judge Michael, Ms. Thacker will be a strong voice on the Court -- one who follows the law and defies pigeon-holing -- one who knows how to build consensus, most often with a quick wit, and can couple deep legal analysis with an understanding of real-world impact -- one who seeks justice first and last.

That was Judge Blane Michael and I believe strongly, and hope with your support, that will also be Judge Stephanie Thacker.

In every sense, Ms. Thacker represents the best and brightest West Virginia has to offer. She graduated at the top of her undergraduate and law school classes; spent 12 years as a federal prosecutor fighting the most horrific crimes imaginable; and is now a top lawyer at one of West Virginia's most respected firms.

Her breadth of knowledge and experience is vast. She prosecuted a mine operator who violated our safety laws, falsified federal documents, and caused the death of a West Virginia miner. She represented one of the largest companies in the world in the first ever class action medical monitoring case of its kind in West Virginia.

She also secured a guilty plea from an individual who threatened to kill his wife, and then on appeal successfully defended the constitutionality of our federal firearms laws that are designed to protect victims of domestic violence.

While at the Department of Justice, Ms. Thacker developed a unique expertise in the investigation and prosecution of child exploitation cases -- winning difficult cases, helping to develop policy and initiatives, and training attorneys and law enforcement professionals around the country and the world to prevent these terrible crimes.

She also litigated cutting-edge cases with national significance, including the first Violence Against Women Act prosecution in the country, some of the first Child Support Recovery Act cases in the country, and successfully prosecuted a pseudo-religious leader who sexually abused dozens of children in multiple states.

As a result of her tremendous work, she was promoted to Principle Deputy Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and was literally responsible for all of the Section's litigation, supervising all of its attorneys, and developing national policies and litigation strategies.

One of her more lasting successes was working with the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to develop the nationwide Innocence Lost initiative to combat child sex trafficking.

By the time Ms. Thacker left the Department of Justice, the task forces and partnerships created by this program made more than 500 arrests and identified more than 200 child victims. This program continues to protect our most vulnerable members of society, and as a result, more than 1,600 children have been rescued and more than 700 sex offenders have been convicted.

Ms. Thacker's accomplishments have earned her national recognition, including the prestigious Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award. I have also brought copies of letters of commendation she has received from several officials and Members of the Senate -- Attorney General Gonzales, FBI Director Mueller, Assistant Attorney General Wray, and Senators Byrd, Chambliss, and Miller, among others. I respectfully ask the Committee's permission to submit these letters for the record today.

Yet, even with such accolades bestowed upon her as an accomplished and aggressive prosecutor, Ms. Thacker is striking too for her grounded-ness. Stephanie Thacker has never forgotten who she is or where she came from, and she calls upon that life experience today.

Ms. Thacker, her twin sister, and their younger brother were raised by a single mother and grandmother in Hamlin, West Virginia, which is a small town in one of our poorest counties.

She knows what life is like for people who grow up under trying conditions. She knows first-hand the blessing and the necessity of making the most of every opportunity we are given in life, and credits her mother and grandmother with instilling in her the importance of education as a means to success.

It is perhaps Ms. Thacker's upbringing that drove her to fight for justice every day and created in her an understanding that decisions she made as a prosecutor -- and decisions she will make from the bench -- have a lasting impact on people's lives.

Like so many in our state, Ms. Thacker came from humble beginnings, and went on by force of will and intellectual heft to chart a course of accomplishment for herself, her state, and her country.

Her career is defined by dedication to the law and to the public good, hard work and intellectual honesty, experience and careful discourse.

Stephanie Thacker is, without a doubt, the perfect person for this vacancy on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and she has my unwavering support.

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