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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Eumi K. Lee to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Judge Lee received her B.A. from Pomona College and her J.D., cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, she clerked for Judge Jerome Turner on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, and she later clerked for Judge Warren J. Ferguson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. During her time in private practice in San Francisco, Judge Lee worked on complex civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and appellate matters, and she tried approximately 21 cases to final decision.

She later served on the faculty of the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, where she taught primarily within the clinical programs and wrote about criminal justice issues. In 2018, Judge Lee was appointed to the Superior Court of California in Alameda County by then-Governor Jerry Brown. She won election to a 6-year term in 2020. During her time on the bench, Judge Lee has handled a wide range of civil and criminal cases at both the trial and appellate levels, and she has presided over 70 trials since joining the bench.

The American Bar Association rated Judge Lee ``well qualified'' to serve on the Northern District of California. She has strong ties to the district, and she is strongly supported by both of her home State Senators, Mr. Padilla and Ms. Butler. Her litigation background, her academic career, and her invaluable experience as a State court judge will serve her well on the Federal bench.

Judge Lee was the final judicial nominee from California who had the honor of being introduced at her hearing by my late friend and colleague Senator Feinstein. When Senator Feinstein introduced Judge Lee, she noted Judge Lee's ``multitude of experience,'' and Senator Padilla praised Judge Lee's ``wealth of legal expertise.'' Those remarks highlight what Judge Lee will bring to the district court. I strongly support this nominee, and I urge my colleagues to join me.

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