Grassley Opens Hearing on Nominations for the Seventh Circuit, North Carolina District Courts and the Director of National Drug Policy

Prepared Opening Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Nominations Hearing
Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Good morning, I'd like to welcome everyone to today's hearing.

Our first panel features Rebecca Taibleson, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

On panel two, we'll hear from four district court nominees: Matthew Orso and Judge Susan Courtwright Rodriguez to the Western District of North Carolina, and David Bragdon and Lindsey Ann Freeman, to the Middle District of North Carolina.

The second panel will also include Sarah Carter, nominated for Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Senator Johnson will introduce Ms. Taibleson in a moment, but I'd like to say a few words to lead us off.

Ms. Taibleson clerked for not one, but two, sitting Supreme Court Justices: Justice Scalia and then-Judge Kavanaugh when he sat on the D.C. Circuit.

Ms. Taibleson is no stranger to this Committee.

In 2018, she testified in defense of Justice Kavanaugh's nomination.

Ms. Taibleson's first-hand experience working with Justice Kavanaugh was an important counterpoint to the embarrassing partisan spectacle that Committee Democrats orchestrated.

I hope that my Democratic colleagues treat Ms. Taibleson with the fairness and decorum that they denied her mentor.

Indeed, Ms. Taibleson is extremely well qualified to serve as a circuit judge.

Her fifteen-year long career has spanned private practice and public service.

She's been a federal prosecutor and the Appellate Chief in the Eastern District of Wisconsin for nearly a decade.

Ms. Taibleson has prosecuted some of the most violent criminals and serious drug trafficking cartels.

She's also a member of the Attorney General's Review Committee on Capital Cases.

During the first Trump Administration, she worked on detail as an Assistant to the Solicitor General.

In that capacity, Ms. Taibleson drafted numerous briefs before the Supreme Court. She participated in oral argument before that Court, not once, but twice.

Our district judge nominees in North Carolina are also highly qualified. Their experiences represent a broad array of legal experience.

Mr. Bragdon and Ms. Freeman are federal prosecutors who have helped uphold the rule of law.

Mr. Orso is an accomplished attorney in private practice.

And Judge Courtwright Rodriguez is a well-respected magistrate judge on the same court to which she's been nominated.

We'll hear more about their backgrounds from our colleagues from North Carolina, and I look forward to hearing from each of them today.

Turning to Ms. Carter - she's been nominated to oversee the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Addressing the scourge of drug abuse is an important issue for members on both sides of this Committee, and we've taken steps to address it this Congress.

I co-led the HALT Fentanyl Act, which was advanced through this Committee in a bipartisan vote earlier this year. President Trump signed it into law this summer.

I appreciate our committee's collaboration to get that bill across the finish line.

Ms. Carter is well positioned to lead the fight to save American lives through commonsense drug control policy.

As an investigative journalist, Ms. Carter developed a deep understanding of the drug crisis facing our country.

She observed first-hand the unlawful trafficking of controlled substance over the Canadian and Mexican borders. And her efforts highlighted the importance of border security to end the flow of drugs and illicit substances into the United States.

I look forward to hearing from Ms. Carter today as well.

Before I turn it over to Senator Durbin, I'd like to mention that we have a long hearing today.

We have six nominees, two panels and multiple introducers.

I'll ask everyone to keep their questions limited to the five minutes allotted to keep the hearing on schedule.

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