The Honorable Mark Steven Kirk

December 19, 2007

Statement of Representative Mark Steven Kirk
Nomination Hearing of Judge Mark Filip to be Deputy Attorney General
December 19, 2007

Mr. Chairman, it is an honor to be able to introduce a great citizen of Illinois to you this morning. Judge Mark Filip's credentials are impressive and he is well qualified to serve as Deputy Attorney General. I want to recognize Mark's family, who made the trip from snowy Winnetka, Illinois to be here today. His wife, Beth, and his sons, Matthew, Charlie, Tommy, and Joe are all here today.

Since his unanimous confirmation to the federal bench by the Senate on February 4, 2004, Mark earned a reputation as an outstanding judge with an exceptionally sharp legal mind. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois, earned a Marshall Scholarship to study at Oxford, and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. After law school, he clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and later for Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

Mark's work as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago won him widespread praise. He successfully prosecuted a group of corrupt Chicago police officers on charges of racketeering, bribery, narcotics trafficking, and extortion. For this case, he received the Justice Department's Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Mark prosecuted a number of public corruption cases including the appeal of a bribery case involving a Cook County criminal judge involved with the EI Rukn street gang, a racketeering case against a corrupt Illinois Department of Transportation employee, and a corruption case against several state and local elected officials. He also participated in a major international heroin trafficking case that stretched from the United States to Thailand, Nigeria, and England.

I am impressed by Mark's long list of pro bono work, including his work on behalf of indigent defendants and an amicus brief in defense of laws designed to notify communities of convicted sex offenders living within their boundaries, commonly known as "Megan's Laws." He serves on the Board of Advisors for Catholic Charities in Chicago and is active in his home parish of Saints Faith Hope and Charity in Winnetka.

Mark Filip is uniquely qualified to serve as Deputy Attorney General, and I want to commend him for his commitment to public service. In his four years as a federal judge, not one of his decisions has been overturned on appeal. His nomination gives all of us from Illinois a great sense of pride, and we know he will excel at this very important job. It speaks volumes about Mark's character that he would voluntarily leave a lifetime appointment to the federal bench to leap "out of the frying pan and into the fire" as the number two man at the Justice Department.

It is my great honor to introduce Judge Mark Filip to the committee today.