Date: January 12, 2006
Senator: Witness - Barry
Topic:
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SPECTER: Thank you very much, Judge Scirica.
We turn now to 3rd Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. Graduate of Mount Holy Oak 1958, Columbia university in 1962 with a Master's, and a law degree from Hofstra, 1974.
Judge Barry was in the U.S. Attorney's Office before Judge Alito was there. Appointed to the district court in 1983 by President Reagan, and to the circuit court in 1999 by President Clinton. She has worked with Judge Alito for the past six years as colleagues on the 3rd Circuit.
Thank you for joining us, Judge Barry, and we look forward to your testimony.
BARRY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, members of the committee.
It is my privilege to appear before you, and it is a particular privilege to speak on behalf of my friend and colleague, Judge Samuel Alito.
Now, I warn you, I may be a little free and call him Sam on occasion, because Judge Alito and I go back almost 30 years to 1977.
In 1977, Judge Alito came to the United States Attorney's Office in the District of New Jersey following his clerkship with Judge Leonard Garth, who was and remains a giant on our court.
Sam was assigned -- see, I did it -- to the appeals division and I was the chief of that division, although in those days I didn't have very much more experience than he did.
Now, I said appeals division -- that sounds very much more substantial than it was. For what it was, was three assistant United States attorneys working very, very hard at a very, very responsible job.
BARRY: We handled all the criminal appeals of those defendants who were convicted at trial. It was our job to master the record, to analyze the issues, to read the relevant cases, to write a persuasive brief on behalf of the United States and, if necessary, to argue the case on the floor of the Court of Appeals.
Nobody did it better than Sam Alito.
And if there were any doubt on that score, the best evidence is the fact that after just four years as an assistant United States attorney, he went directly to the Office of the Solicitor General. Only the best are able to do that.
For the next six years, Judge Alito distinguished himself with public service in Washington, D.C., and then he returned to the District of New Jersey in 1987 as the United States attorney.
Important cases were brought on his watch -- organized crime cases, drug trafficking cases, public corruption cases. I know because I was there. And as the district court judge at that time, having been appointed by President Reagan, I handled some of his more important cases.
Now, I mentioned the cases that were handled on his watch for another reason.
The tone of a United States Attorney's Office comes from the top. The standard of excellence is set at the top.
Samuel Alito set a standard of excellence that was contagious -- his commitment to doing the right thing, never playing fast and loose with the record, never taking a shortcut, his emphasis on first-rate work, his fundamental decency.
The assistant United States attorneys who worked for him were proud to do so. They admired him completely.
Now, of course, in 1990 Judge Alito became Judge Alito. And you have heard the most glowing things said about Sam as a colleague on our court. I embrace every glowing statement.
Let me just conclude with this: Judge Alito is a man of remarkable intellectual gifts. He is a man with impeccable legal credentials.
BARRY: He is a fair-minded man, a modest man, a humble man. And he reveres the rule of law.
If confirmed, Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. will serve as a marvelous and distinguished associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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