Grassley Opens Senate Judiciary Committee Nominations Hearing for Circuit and District Nominees

Prepared Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Nominations
Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Good morning, I'd like to welcome everyone to today's hearing. Today, we'll have two panels.

The first panel features Lee Rudofsky, who is nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Our second panel has three district court nominees: Robert Long for the Middle District of Florida, Peter Mansfield for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Jesus Osete for the Western District of Missouri.

I'll keep my remarks brief since we have multiple panels.

But first, I'd like to address an issue related to this committee's review process.

In the lead-up to every hearing, my staff and the staff of the ranking member diligently review each nominee's FBI background investigations.

Sometimes, through no fault of a nominee, there are delays in getting that paperwork from the FBI. That's what happened here for one nominee, who isn't on our panel today.

Mr. Kelley was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. I want to be clear: his absence today does not reflect on him or his qualifications.

Based on our review so far, he appears to be an extraordinarily qualified nominee.

This was a delay in getting paperwork from the FBI, and I'm confident that Mr. Kelley will sit for our next hearing.

Turning to today's nominees, they're all exceptional in their own right, and they reflect diverse backgrounds in the law and public service.

Indeed, today's nominees have served as attorneys at the local, state and federal levels. Their profiles include legal work with a local law enforcement office, state advocacy with attorneys general offices and federal service with the U.S. Attorney's office and the Justice Department.

Our nominees also include judges at both the state and federal level.

I'd also note that, like our last hearing, one of today's nominees has prior military service - Judge Long.

President Trump continues the trend of making excellent nominations to our country's most important roles, and I look forward to hearing from each of today's nominees.

That said, I have the honor of introducing one of them.

Judge Rudofsky has been nominated to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. His career spans public service, private practice and academia.

Judge Rudofsky graduated from Cornell University and Harvard Law School. He then clerked on both the Massachusetts Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit before entering private practice.

In 2014, Judge Rudofsky joined Walmart, serving for a year as assistant general counsel.

He then entered public service as the solicitor general of Arkansas. He served with distinction, handling complex constitutional and appellate matters.

After three years in that role, he rejoined Walmart as the senior director of its Global Anti-Corruption Compliance Team, but his return was short-lived.

In 2019, President Trump nominated Judge Rudofsky as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, where he continues to serve today.

He's taught at George Mason University, the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He's also educated future lawyers and law clerks at the Judicial Clerkship Writing Conference held at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law.

Judge Rudofsky's experience spans from the courtroom to the classroom, and back again. I look forward to hearing from him today.

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