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[Pages S3068-S3069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATION OF JUSTIN REED WALKER
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here to talk about the nomination
of Justin Walker to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, but let's start
with Conner Curran. Justin Walker actually has met Conner--not really,
but I introduced him to Conner through this picture during his
nomination hearing in the Judiciary Committee.
Several years ago, Conner was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular
dystrophy, a degenerative life-threatening disease which presently has
no cure. Most people who have the disease die by their mid-20s. Conner
was diagnosed at age 5. I met Conner a couple of years later. There is
probably nobody who has inspired me more with his courage, his energy,
his strength of character than Conner Curran and his wonderful family
who live in Ridgefield, CT.
His parents were told, at the time of his diagnosis, that this
beautiful young sweet child would slowly lose his ability to run, lift
his arms, hug them, and he would need complex care for the rest of his
life. He would need multiple specialists that would cost tens of
thousands of dollars each year, which they could not afford. But they
made it possible or, actually, it was made possible by the Affordable
Care Act. Now, because of that act, he cannot be denied care. He is
alive. He is not giving up. He is fighting for both a cure and the
Affordable Care Act.
He is not the only one. There are 1.5 million people in the State of
Connecticut alone and millions more around the country living with
preexisting conditions. There are 182,000 children among those 1.5
million people, just like Conner, living with the potentially
debilitating and even deadly effects of preexisting conditions, and
there are millions more around the country. For them, for Americans,
the Affordable Care Act is more than a law; it is a lifeline. Each of
them can get the affordable care they need because of that lifeline.
Right now, we all know that healthcare has never been more important.
We talk about it every day. We are full of rhetoric on the floor of
this Chamber about the healthcare crisis, which has precipitated an
economic crisis and about the disproportionate effects of that
healthcare crisis--a pandemic of an insidious, deadly disease on poor
and, often, communities of color.
At the time of this crisis, the President of the United States has
nominated Justin Walker to be an appellate judge, a present district
court judge who has said that his main mission is to destroy the
Affordable Care Act. Of course, that is perfectly consistent with the
Trump administration's view of the Affordable Care Act. It is
litigating in court right now against the Affordable Care Act.
President Trump has opposed it consistently, constantly, vociferously.
Justin Walker, at his investiture as a district court judge, pledged
that he would continue to make destruction of the Affordable Care Act a
priority. During his investiture remarks, attended by his mentor, the
majority leader, Senator McConnell, he said:
[A]lthough my legal principles are prevalent, they have not
yet prevailed. . . . [A]lthough we are winning, we have not
won. . . . [A]lthough we celebrate today, we cannot take for
granted tomorrow or we will lose our courts and our country.
That wasn't some law review article that Justin Walker wrote back
when he was going to school. It wasn't some speech that he made to a
local chamber of commerce. It was literally at his swearing in as a
U.S. district court judge for the Western District of Kentucky just
months ago, not even a year. He said: ``[A]lthough my legal principles
are prevalent, they have not yet prevailed.'' If there were a new
meaning to give to the word ``irony,'' this nomination would exemplify
it.
During a public health crisis, the President of the United States has
nominated someone who wants to take healthcare away from people and
deny them health insurance.
The reason Conner is here is really to show that these big principles
have real-life consequences. Judges have impact. The law matters. Words
matter.
[[Page S3069]]
[A]lthough my legal principles are prevalent, they have not
yet prevailed. . . . [A]lthough we are winning, we have not
yet won.
What does a Justin Walker win look like? For those millions of
Americans suffering from preexisting conditions, it means denial of
healthcare. And for Conner Curran and his family, it could, in effect,
be a death sentence.
That may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn't to those millions
of Americans who have preexisting conditions. It isn't to Conner and to
his family. They live with the real-life consequences of laws that we
make and decisions by the courts that may strike down those laws, like
the Affordable Care Act.
The irony here is more than abstract. The outrage here should be
real. Justin Walker, very simply, is unfit to be a judge on the Court
of Appeals. He was judged ``unqualified'' to be a district court judge.
I ask my colleagues to reject his nomination.
Thank you.
I yield the floor.
____________________
