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February 27, 2003

Milt Jenkins
612 Court Street #1
Sioux City, Iowa 51101

Dear Milt:

Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you.

I appreciate hearing your concerns over the judicial nomination process. The Constitution requires that the President's power to nominate be constrained or balanced by the power of the Senate to advise and consent. I take this role very seriously and have worked in the past to move nominees judiciously through the Senate. I believe the best way we can achieve this goal is to work in a bipartisan manner in thoroughly reviewing the nominees' legal and professional backgrounds. I want judges confirmed who can look at the law objectively and will apply it to each case. I am committed to treating all nominees fairly and moving them through the process in a reasonable time period.

As you know, Miguel Estrada has been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in the Senate. Unfortunately, Mr. Estrada has refused to answer even the most basic questions about his judicial philosophy and his opinions on Supreme Court cases. The Senate has also not viewed key memo-randa prepared by Mr. Estrada when he was in the Solicitor General's office. This kind of information is essential for effectively evaluating Mr. Estrada's fitness to serve on the federal bench. As a result, Senators cannot make informed decisions on the nomination, and therefore cannot fulfill their constitutional duties under the "advise and consent" clause.

During the 107th Congress, the Democratic-led Judiciary Committee and Senate held hearings and votes on a record number of President Bush's judicial nominees. The Senate confirmed 100 Bush judicial nominees. This confirmation rate doubles the ace of the Republican-controlled Senate when they averaged 38 judicial confirmations per year during the last six and one-half years Republicans held the majority.

In fact, scores of the last President's judicial nominees were never given hearings or votes and many of them were qualified Hispanic, African American, or female nominees -- including Bonnie Campbell of Iowa, who was nominated to fill an Eighth Circuit court vacancy.

I have consistently worked with Senator Grassley during the judicial nominations process. I plan to continue this relationship as we work to secure qualified individuals to fill judicial vacancies in Iowa's federal district and circuit courts. You may be interested to know that three judicial nominees from Iowa were confirmed by the Senate last year. Judge Michael Melloy now serves on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals; and James Gritzner and Linda Reade filled the federal district openings in Iowa. Please be assured that I will certainly keep your views in mind as confirmation proceedings continue in the Senate.

Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don't hesitate to let me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.

Sincerely,

Tom Harkin
United States Senator