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Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell introduced on Wednesday fellow Kentuckian Amul R. Thapar to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Thapar is President Bush’s nominee to be Federal Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. McConnell’s remarks follow:

“Mr. Chairman, Senator Specter, Fellow Senators,

“It is my great honor and privilege today to speak on behalf of Amul R. Thapar, the President’s nominee to be the next United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

“During the course of these hearings, this distinguished committee will learn what I know: Without a doubt, Amul Thapar has the qualifications, the intellect, the integrity and the judicial temperament to make an excellent addition to our federal judiciary.

“Amul graduated from the Boalt Hall School of Law of the University of California after receiving his undergraduate degree with high honors from Boston College.

“He clerked for Judge Nathaniel R. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Judge S. Arthur Spiegel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. From them, he learned first-hand how a judge presides in a just and fair manner, and with a measured temperament.

“An accomplished attorney in private practice, Amul has managed and litigated complex cases on behalf of major corporations in both federal and state courts.

“Amul served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for several years, first in Washington, D.C., from 1999 to 2001 and then in Cincinnati from 2002 to 2006. The greater Cincinnati area includes the suburbs of northern Kentucky, where Amul made his home in these years and strengthened his ties to Kentucky’s communities.

“As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he successfully prosecuted a wide variety of federal crimes, with an emphasis on public corruption and homeland security.

He also served as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, and again at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where he taught Federal Criminal Practice.

“After years of experience as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Amul rose up through the ranks to earn confirmation as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky in early 2006. Since then, as the chief federal law-enforcement officer for half our state, he has easily become one of the most respected U.S. Attorneys in the country.

“He was appointed as one of only 17 nationwide to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys. As the chairman of the Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture Subcommittee, Amul has focused on prosecuting prescription narcotics abuse in Kentucky.

“Internet safety is also an important issue for Amul. He has traveled throughout his district, speaking to schools, churches and civics groups on the dangers of online child pornography and child exploitation.

“He has visited all 67 counties of his district to reach out to state and local law-enforcement, building relationships and working to root out public corruption, vote buying and racketeering.

“Amul not only works hard at the office—he volunteers in his community as well. Several years ago he founded a brand-new chapter of the well-respected Street Law program, which sends law-school students into underprivileged high schools to teach the basic underpinnings of our legal system.

“Hundreds of students have benefited from Amul’s initiative, and the program is larger and more successful than ever after 12 years.

“In addition to these myriad accomplishments, Amul has a wonderful family who are all very proud of him and all he has achieved. His wife, Kim, their sons Zachary and Nicholas, and their daughter Carmen are here with us today.

“We’re also joined by Amul’s mother, Veena Bhalla, his father and step-mother, Raj and Rama Thapar, his mother-in-law Joan Schulte, his sister Vandana Thapar and his uncle, Anand Bhasin.

“I want to take special note of Veena Bhalla’s presence at this hearing today. Ms. Bhalla is a civilian social worker with the U.S. Army who works to help transition soldiers returning home from the battlefield.

“She chose to sell her successful restaurant and serve her country this way after the 9/11 attacks. She’s traveled from Italy to be here to support her son, and we’re all glad she could make it. Ms. Bhalla, thank you for your service.

With so many good people behind him, clearly Amul Thapar is the right man to serve as the next federal judge for the state’s Eastern District.

“His time in the U.S. Attorney’s office and as a clerk for two respected federal judges has given him an understanding of the day-to-day operations of federal courts.

“He’s risen through the ranks to the top of his field to become a stellar prosecutor, all while maintaining his reputation as a man of unquestioned ethics and integrity.

“If confirmed, Amul Thapar will scrupulously interpret the law while always remaining impartial and fair. I’m confident he has the wisdom and integrity to excel as a federal judge.

“I’d like to add one more thing: As you know, this committee has received letters from both the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the North American South Asian Bar Association, strongly in support of Mr. Thapar’s nomination.

“Both bar associations point out that if confirmed, he would be the first South Asian American Article III judge in the history of this country. I’m sure this committee appreciates them bringing this milestone to its attention.

“I appreciate this committee’s expeditious handling of his nomination, and I look forward to his confirmation. Thank you for allowing me to testify on his behalf.”

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Republican Leader files cloture on amendment; Senate will vote on permanent ban this week

Washington, D.C. — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the Sununu Amendment to make the internet tax moratorium permanent:

“Madam President, I want to thank the Senator from New Hampshire for offering this important amendment. We are running out of time.

“The internet tax moratorium does expire in a week, as the Senator from New Hampshire has indicated. State and local governments across our country could impose taxes on internet access as soon as a week from now.

“I think it's important that we address this issue. Not that the underlying measure is not important as well. I know it is important to many senators. But the internet needs to be protected.

“Here's our chance to go on record: are we for a tax on internet access or not?

“The internet's been at the heart of America’s economic growth over the past decade, all because government hasn't gotten in the way. Those days are over if we open the internet to new taxes.

“I think there is bipartisan support for a permanent ban, for continuing the moratorium forever.

“And I think the Senate ought to have an opportunity to go on record on that. And the only way, Madam President, in the parliamentary situation that we find ourselves in that a vote on a permanent moratorium could be achieved is if I were to offer a motion to invoke cloture, which I send to the desk now, on the Sununu amendment.”

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‘I urge my colleagues to think hard about the ramifications of their vote, and to vote for cloture on the Southwick nomination’

Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will deliver the following remarks on the Senate floor this morning at approximately 10:50 a.m. regarding the cloture vote on the nomination of Judge Leslie Southwick:

“Mr. President, in 1992, a Mississippi lawyer named Leslie Southwick wanted to serve his country in the armed forces. At forty-two, he was too old to do so. But service to others is a duty that Leslie Southwick had always taken seriously, whether in the Justice Department, or on the state bench, or with Habitat for Humanity, or in doing charity work for inner-city communities.

“So in 1992, forty-two year old Leslie Southwick sought an age-waiver to join the U.S. Army Reserves. The country had the good sense and good fortune to grant his request.

“Leslie Southwick continued to serve in the armed forces after he was elected to the state court of appeals in 1994. He conscientiously performed his military and judicial duties, even using his ‘vacation time’ from the court to satisfy the required service period in the Mississippi National Guard.

“In 2003, Lieutenant Colonel Southwick volunteered for a line combat unit, the 155th Separate Armor Brigade. His commanding officer, Major General Harold A. Cross, notes that his decision ‘was a courageous move; as it was widely known at the time that the 155th was nearly certain to mobilize for overseas duty in the near future.’ Colleagues like Attorney Brian Montague were not surprised: ‘Despite love of wife and children,’ Leslie Southwick volunteered for a line combat unit over a safer one ‘because of a commitment to service to country above self-interest.’

“In August of 2004, Leslie Southwick’s unit mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His commanding officer states that he distinguished himself at forward operating bases near Najaf. Another officer, Lieutenant Colonel Norman Gene Hortman, Jr., described his service in Iraq:

Service in a combat zone is stressful and challenging, often times bringing out the best or worst in a person. Leslie Southwick endured mortar and rocket attacks, travel through areas plagued with IEDs, extremes in temperature, harsh living conditions . . . –the typical stuff of Iraq. He shouldered a heavy load of regular JAG Officer duties, which he performed excellently. He also took on the task of handling the claims of the numerous Iraqi civilians who had been injured or had property losses due to accidents involving the U.S. military . . . This involved long days of interviewing Iraqi civilian claimants, many of whom were children, widows and elderly people to determine whether the U.S. Military could pay their claims. Leslie always listened to these Iraqi claimants patiently and treated them with the utmost respect and kindness. He did this not just out of a sense of duty but because he is a genuinely good and caring person. His attitude left a very positive impression on all those that Leslie came in contact with, especially, the Iraqi civilians he helped. This in turn helped ease tensions in our unit’s area of operations . . . and ultimately, saved American lives.

“Lieutenant Colonel Hortman concludes that Leslie Southwick ‘has the right stuff’ for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: ‘profound intelligence, good judgment, broad experience, and an unblemished reputation.’ He adds, ‘I know him and can say these things without reservation. Anyone who says otherwise simply does not know him.’ Stuart Taylor writes in the National Journal that Leslie Southwick ‘wears a distinctive badge of courageous service to his country,’ and that he ‘is a professionally well-qualified and personally admirable’ nominee to the Fifth Circuit.

“Judge Southwick does not seek thanks or notoriety or charity for his military and other civic service. He asks to be judged fairly--to be judged on the facts, to be judged on his record. It is the same standard he has applied to others as a judge, a military officer, and a teacher.

“It is a standard for which he is well known and admired. By that standard, he is superbly fit to continue serving his country, this time on the Fifth Circuit. Senators Cochran and Lott, his home-state senators, know this. They strongly support him."

Recent Press Releases

McConnell: Amul Thapar has “the Wisdom and Integrity to Excel as a Federal Judge”

October 24, 2007

McConnell: Internet Tax Ban Should Be Made Permanent

October 24, 2007

McConnell on the Confirmation of Judge Southwick

October 24, 2007