[Senate Hearing 108-735]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 108-735
NOMINATION OF GREGORY EUGENE JACKSON
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON THE
NOMINATION OF GREGORY EUGENE JACKSON, TO BE AN ASSOCIATE JUDGE OF THE
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
__________
OCTOBER 5, 2004
__________
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COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine, Chairman
TED STEVENS, Alaska JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut
GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio CARL LEVIN, Michigan
NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois MARK DAYTON, Minnesota
JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire FRANK LAUTENBERG, New Jersey
RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama MARK PRYOR, Arkansas
Michael D. Bopp, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Johanna L. Hardy Senior Counsel
Jennifer Hemingway, Professional Staff Member
David Cole, Professional Staff Member, Oversight of Government
Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia
Subcommittee
Joyce A. Rechtschaffen, Minority Staff Director and Counsel
Adam Sedgewick, Minority Professional Staff Member
Marianne Clifford Upton, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel,
Oversight of
Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of
Columbia Subcommittee
Amy B. Newhouse, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Voinovich............................................ 1
Senator Pryor................................................ 5
WITNESSES
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Delegate in Congress from the
District of Columbia........................................... 2
Gregory Eugene Jackson, to be an Associate Judge of the Superior
Court of the District of Columbia.............................. 2
Biographical and Professional Information.................... 7
APPENDIX
Paul Strauss, a Shadow Senator from the District of Columbia,
prepared statement............................................. 22
NOMINATION OF GREGORY EUGENE JACKSON
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2004
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. George V.
Voinovich presiding.
Present: Senators Voinovich and Pryor.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH
Senator Voinovich. Good morning and welcome. Today, the
Committee on Governmental Affairs meets to consider the
nomination of Gregory Jackson to be Associate Judge for the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Mr. Jackson has
served as General Counsel for the District of Columbia
Department of Corrections since 1999. As General Counsel, he
advises the Director of Corrections on legal and administrative
issues, coordinates the defense against civil cases filed
against the Department, and serves as the primary point of
contact for the local courts and other criminal justice
agencies.
During this period, he represented the Department of
Corrections in hearings in the Superior Court and the U.S.
District Court, primarily on issues related to prisoners'
conditions of confinement in the District of Columbia jail.
Prior to this position, Mr. Jackson served as an Assistant
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1986 to 1999,
13 years. During that period, Mr. Jackson primarily focused on
criminal litigation and served half his time as an attorney
supervisor.
Additionally, Mr. Jackson has served as Legal Advisor to
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1978 to 1986. Some
time I would like to talk to you about that, Mr. Jackson,
because I now have them under my jurisdiction.
Mr. Jackson holds a B.A. from Rutgers College and a J.D.
from the Newark College of Law. I believe him to be well
qualified for the position to which he has been nominated.
I now welcome my colleague, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton
of the District of Columbia, who is here to introduce Mr.
Jackson. Ms. Norton and I have known each other way before
either one of us were here. I think I first got to know you,
Eleanor, when I was mayor of the city of Cleveland. Thank you
for coming over, and I want to apologize to you and to Mr.
Jackson and all of your friends who are here today for being
late, but we had a vote over in the Senate and one of the
things I have learned since I have come to the Senate, as
contrasted to when I was governor, is that I do not control my
own schedule.
STATEMENT OF HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, A DELEGATE IN CONGRESS
FROM THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Ms. Holmes Norton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and
if I may say so, your own rescue of the city of Cleveland was a
model for what has happened in recent years in this city as
well, and we are very pleased and gratified at your
contributions to the District of Columbia since you have been
Chairman of the Subcommittee.
I am very pleased to recommend to you today Gregory
Jackson, whom the President has nominated to our D.C. Superior
Court, which is our local court of jurisdiction but under the
jurisdiction of this Committee. I believe that Mr. Jackson's
prior posts and his entire career well qualify him to be an
Associate Judge of the Superior Court. You have outlined his
recent positions. I think that particularly his extensive
litigation experience best qualifies him to be a trial judge of
our Superior Court.
His 13 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S.
Attorney for the District of Columbia where he tried 44 cases
on most of which he was the lead counsel. He was Chief of the
Felony Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Mr. Jackson received a 4-year scholarship to Rutgers
University, graduated from the university and then received his
J.D. from the university as well. We are proud of him in the
District of Columbia and proud to recommend him to you today,
Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you very much. As you know, you
are welcome to remain for the rest of the hearing, but I know
you have got a busy schedule like all of us, so thank you so
much for being here today.
Ms. Holmes Norton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Voinovich. It's the custom of the Committee to
swear in witnesses and therefore I ask, Mr. Jackson, if you
will stand up. Do you swear that the testimony that you are
about to give before this Committee is the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Jackson. I do.
Senator Voinovich. Let the record show that Mr. Jackson
answered in the affirmative. I understand that you may have
some family members here today and other friends. I would like
to give you the opportunity to introduce all the folks that
have come out today to support your nomination.
TESTIMONY OF GREGORY EUGENE JACKSON, TO BE ASSOCIATE JUDGE,
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUPERIOR COURT
Mr. Jackson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and if I may I would
like to introduce my wife, Sheila Robinson, who is behind me;
my mother Mary Jackson; my godparents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Walker; and my cousin Rader Banks, who have come here to share
this occasion with me. I would also like to introduce my
friends and my extended family who have come out to share this
occasion and be present here to support me. I have to tell you
that while this opportunity is a real blessing for me, the
greater blessing, if you will, is to have friends and
colleagues, acquaintances, long-time family members, extended
family members, who have supported me throughout this process
and indeed throughout all of my endeavors, but most
particularly during this time, and who have come here to share
this occasion with my family and with me, and I want to thank
them very much and let them know how much I really appreciate
all of their support.
Senator Voinovich. One of the things that I have noticed as
time goes on is that all of us in public service could not do
what we have been able to do without the sacrifice of our
spouse and our friends, and it is nice to have them all here to
see you today. I know they are all very proud of you and I am
sure each one of them have had something to do with your
career. As I say, in life, we look around, and all we are is a
reflection of the people that love us, and it is nice to have
your loved ones here with you today.
Would you like to share with us a statement about why you
want this nomination?
Mr. Jackson. Senator, I would like to say that my whole
career, as you have noted in the summary that you gave, has
been devoted to public service. This is an opportunity to do
what many may characterize as the ultimate in public service. I
have been fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to have
a number of experiences that I think have well prepared me for
this opportunity, certainly the opportunity to be a trial
attorney and a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office, to
develop the trial skills and to understand the process in the
way that I have.
But I have to also say that I am very proud of the
opportunity that I have had to serve as General Counsel for the
D.C. Department of Corrections. It has given me a different
perspective, if you will, on the criminal justice system, an
opportunity to understand what happens beyond the mere
prosecution of the case, and the importance of and the
difficulty of the decisions that judges sometimes have to make,
and to understand how that process takes place and what all is
involved. I believe that these opportunities have certainly
shaped me.
They have influenced me, they have guided me in a number of
ways, and they have brought me to this point. I am very excited
about the opportunity to possibly serve as an Associate Judge
of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you. We have some questions that
we ask all of our nominees. Is there anything that you are
aware of in your background that might present a conflict of
interest with the duties of the office to which you have been
nominated?
Mr. Jackson. Nothing that I am aware of, Senator.
Senator Voinovich. Do you know of any reason, personal or
otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and
honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to
which you have been nominated?
Mr. Jackson. No, there is nothing that I am aware of, sir.
Senator Voinovich. And do you know of any reason, personal
or otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from serving
the full term for the office to which you have been nominated?
Mr. Jackson. No, sir.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you very much. I would like to ask
you a couple of other questions. Whether it is through your
experience appearing before judges and observing your
colleagues, I am sure you have observed a variety of judicial
temperaments. I am always concerned about the judicial
temperaments of our judges. I would like you to discuss what
you believe to be the appropriate temperament and approach of a
judge not only in dealing with attorneys appearing before you
but in dealing with their clients and witnesses coming before
the bench.
Mr. Jackson. Mr. Chairman, I think it is critical and
fundamental that as a judge, one must be fair and impartial.
That is the basic foundation of what a judge must do. But in
addition to that, one must be respectful of all the parties
that appear before them.
I think that it is critical that all the parties who appear
before a judge feel confident and know that they will be
treated with fairness, with respect, and that ultimately while
they may agree or disagree, like or dislike the outcome, they
nevertheless know that they have been treated fairly and with
respect throughout the entire process.
Senator Voinovich. I think that is really important. You
have been able to observe a lot of judges over the years as I
have. Back in my own State, I have seen people that become
judges and their personalities change. To quote the Bible, ``He
that exalts himself shall be humbled and he that humbles
himself shall be exalted,'' and I think this sometimes is
forgotten.
I am sure you have seen what I am talking about over the
years. It is very important for people that come before you to
feel that you have treated them with dignity, respect, and
openness. I feel that your experience with the correction
system will help you to put yourself in other people's shoes,
which is very important in this position.
Looking at your current position as General Counsel for the
District of Columbia Department of Corrections and your
dealings with the District Superior Court, do you see areas
that need improvement, whether it be a communication or
management problem? How would you go about implementing
improvements to correct these problems as a judge in the
District Court System?
Mr. Jackson. Mr. Chairman, one of the unintended
consequences of the Revitalization Act and the closure of
Lorton and the change in the way in which sentenced felons are
incarcerated here in the District of Columbia has necessitated
the improved communications and improved relationships among
all the criminal justice partners that operate here in the
District of Columbia, and that includes the D.C. Superior
Court.
We also work very closely with the U.S. District Court, the
marshals, the U.S. Marshal Service in both courts, the Federal
Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Parole Commission, the Court
Services and Offender Supervision Agency. There is now a
collaborative effort on the part of all of those agencies to
improve the system.
We meet regularly with the court and the court staff on a
variety of different issues. We have contact people at the
Superior Court that I talk to in some instances daily and
sometimes multiple times during the course of the day, working
out individual problems and addressing systemic problems and
issues that arise.
This is an ongoing and evolving process as we go forward
trying to improve the criminal justice system in the District
of Columbia. It is critical that we have open lines of
communication, and we do now have that, Senator. Everyone is
working very hard to indeed make our system a model system, if
you will. It is unique in so many different ways and it
presents a number of different challenges and also a number of
different opportunities. We are always exploring those
opportunities to try to make the process better.
Senator Voinovich. How about the pre-sentencing reports? I
know one of the things that we found when I was Governor of
Ohio, that the pre-sentencing workups left a lot to be desired.
Once an individual had their day in court and they were
sentenced, so often when they went off to jail, the prison did
not know anything about them. Could you comment on the pre-
sentencing reports?
Mr. Jackson. I do not personally see the presentence
reports on a regular basis. However, I know that we have had
discussions with the Court Services and Offender Supervision
Agency that oversees the preparation of those presentence
reports to improve the process by which that information is
exchanged and transmitted to us and ultimately to the Federal
Bureau of Prisons for those people who are sentenced felons
that are sentenced to periods of incarceration and are
transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Recently, we have worked diligently with the Federal Bureau
of Prisons, the Superior Court, the Marshal Service and the
U.S. Parole Commission to improve the process by which that
information is transferred and indeed improve the time by which
those offenders are prepared and ultimately transferred to the
Federal Bureau of Prisons, and we have succeeded, sir, in
reducing that time from roughly about 65 days to about 23 days.
Senator Voinovich. Well, it is a big issue, and I know that
my Director of Corrections who is still serving the State of
Ohio, Reggie Wilkinson, has spent a lot of time on pre-
sentencing reports. We have found that because we improved pre-
sentencing, that we are better able to deal with people that
are incarcerated and to try to make a difference in their lives
so that when they get out of jail that they can go on and have
productive lives.
I think that is very important. It is very important to
you, too, when you are sitting on the bench and really knowing
who is this individual, and they are just not some number.
We have been joined by Senator Pryor from Arkansas, and
Senator, I would like to call on you for any comment that you
would like to make, and I appreciate the fact that very rarely
do any of my colleagues show up for these nominations. So thank
you for coming.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PRYOR
Senator Pryor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you
and your diligence on a variety of issues, but when it comes to
judges, I have a pretty basic test, and that is is the person
qualified, is there anything in their background that we need
to know about, can they be fair and impartial, and maybe one or
two others.
I am not aware of anything in Mr. Jackson's background that
would give me any pause on this, and as far as I understand,
there is really no controversy around this nomination. Is that
fair to say?
Senator Voinovich. That is more than fair to say.
Senator Pryor. OK. Then I really do not have any questions.
Thank you.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you. If there are no further
questions, I want to thank you, Mr. Jackson, for your responses
today. I would also like to thank your family, friends, and
colleagues for coming today to offer their support for you. I
know that you are anxious to be confirmed and invested, and the
next process is to have the Committee, as a whole, consider
your nomination and then report it to the Senate for final
action. We will do everything in our power to move this along.
We are supposed to be wrapping up this week, but we are
going to be back for a lame duck starting on November 15. We
will do everything we can to move this along so that it does
not carry over into next year. I know that you are needed on
the bench today and we will do what we can to make it happen.
So thanks again for being here today.
Mr. Jackson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Senator
Pryor.
Senator Voinovich. The hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 10:30 a.m., the Committee adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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