Supporting the Nomination of Regina Rodriguez to Serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
Remarks on the Senate floor.
I wanted to come to the floor today to share a few words about Regina Rodriguez, President Biden’s nominee for the US District Court for the District of Colorado. Gina’s nomination comes to this floor with broad, well-earned support across the state of Colorado. My office has received a flood of letters on her behalf. All of them testify to her character, her hard work, and commitment to serve as justice and the rule of law,
She learned all of it, Mr. President, from her family. Her mom’s family knew injustice firsthand during the Second World War. They were relocated from California to the Heart Mountain internment site in Wyoming, joining over 10,000 people whose loyalty was questioned by the United States government based solely on their Japanese ancestry. Her mother Linda went on to become a teacher and administrator in the Denver Public Schools, my old school district. Her father Peter was a Mexican-American who went from living in a railroad boxcar on the south side of Chicago to earning a nomination for the NFL Hall of Fame. Education and hard work transformed her parents’ lives, and Regina has always sought to live up to their example.
Gina grew up in Gunnison, Colorado, but her family moved around the country because her dad coached football. She graduated with honors from the University of Iowa — which I know is not the only reason that Chairman Grassley supported her nomination but probably was an important one — then returned home to earn a JD from the University of Colorado Law School. After starting at a private firm in Denver, Gina joined the US Attorney’s Office.
The Department of Justice noticed her talent, and she went to work for the Attorney General on alternative dispute resolution, a new approach, at the time, meant to avoid lengthy trials through arbitration and mediation. She helped to mainstream the approach for all US attorneys, saving the government countless hours and taxpayers countless dollars over the years. Gina’s leadership in Washington earned her a promotion back in Denver, where she rose to become the chief of the civil division in the US Attorney’s Office. She was the first Latina to hold that position, and quickly developed a stellar reputation among colleagues and judges. Today, she’s one of the most respected trial lawyers in Colorado and has received award after award for her work.
Her commitment to the community has been just as impressive. She’s a founding board member of Colorado Youth At Risk, a nonprofit that helps kids stay on the right track. She served as one of Colorado’s higher education commissioners and still serves on the board of Denver’s highest performing charter school, the school of Science and Technology in my old district. Somehow, she finds time to mentor young lawyers from underrepresented communities.
The evidence is overwhelming. Regina Rodriguez is an exceptional nominee with a distinguished career and commitment to service. She has blazed trails in Colorado and in Colorado law through the sheer force of her intellect, hard work, and character. Regina and her family are what we mean when we come to this floor and talk about the American dream.
She has my full and enthusiastic support and I want to thank my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee for advancing her nomination with overwhelming bipartisan support. They saw what Colorado already knows, which is what an exceptional judge Gina would make, and I wholeheartedly agree. I urge my colleagues to come together and confirm this outstanding nominee in a big bipartisan vote. With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
