September 23, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 165 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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Supreme Court Nominations (Executive Session); Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 165
(Senate - September 23, 2020)
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[Pages S5805-S5806] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Supreme Court Nominations Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today in honor of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Ginsburg was a role model for many and a champion for all, and I was one of those. I would like to speak about what is at stake for the American public with this vacancy on the Court and why whoever is elected President in November should be the one who decides to fill this seat. Justice Ginsburg was, simply put, a phenomenal lawyer and jurist. She was small, and she was mighty. As a civil rights lawyer, she won key cases that established a woman's constitutional right to equal treatment and confirmed the principle of equal rights for all. As a jurist, she further cemented these key principles into law. She brought them up, and she made them exist forever. As a person, she brought smiles to our faces, and now she really does bring tears. Although small in stature, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a formidable advocate, strategist, and champion. I believe she will continue to serve as a major role model for generations of women, both young and old, for whom she paved the way, and I am one of those. We are in her debt today, and generations to come will be in her debt as well. Justice Ginsburg is also important to me personally. Her confirmation hearing was the first I participated in as a newly elected Senator and as the first woman to sit on the Judiciary Committee in 1993. It was a long time ago. As I said before the committee in 1993, it was not until I began preparing for Justice Ginsburg's confirmation that I learned how she built the foundation for women's rights. Simply put, it was this: Before becoming a judge on the DC Circuit, Justice Ginsburg was the director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, where she won five cases before the Supreme Court. Amazing--five cases before people believed women had these rights. In one of these cases, Craig v. Boren, the Supreme Court held for the first time that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment applied to women. Can you believe it--actually applied to women. This is a very big addition because this really canceled out inequality. In other words, it is because of Justice Ginsburg's advocacy as a lawyer that the government cannot discriminate against women on the basis of sex. For the female side of this room, this was really a major person whose works enabled us to run for this esteemed body and be part of it. It is no surprise, then, that Justice Ginsburg remained a fierce defender of women from the bench. She consistently reaffirmed a woman's right to choose and upheld Roe v. Wade against dozens of attacks. She invalidated the men's-only policy at the Virginia Military Institute. Explaining that decision at a visit to VMI, Justice Ginsburg told cadets that she knew it ``would make V.M.I. a better place.'' In 2007, she vehemently dissented in a case where the Court's majority held that a woman--namely, one Lilly Ledbetter, with whom we have become familiar--was time-barred from suing [[Page S5806]] her employer for discrimination when she finally learned that her male colleagues had been paid more than her for several years. Justice Ginsburg's dissent in this case became the basis for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which we passed in 2009, making it possible to bring lawsuits when gender-based pay discrimination is actually uncovered. As a testament to the legal giant she was, Justice Ginsburg's accomplishments on behalf of women are just one part of her legacy, and that legacy I strongly believe is going to be honored more and more in the years to come. She died last Friday, just 46 days before the 2020 Presidential election. Importantly, under a Republican standard adopted in 2016, the Senate should not consider a Supreme Court nomination until after the inauguration of the next President, whoever that may be. Until recently, Republicans have been intent on their own standard, which they used to block consideration of Merrick Garland, President Obama's nominee, to fill Justice Scalia's seat on the Court. Now, can we have one set of rules for Democratic Presidents and another for Republican ones? I think not. To allow otherwise undermines not only our faith in Congress but also the faith of people that we are going to stick by what we do and be impartial in the judicial system. Now, just 41 days before the election, Senate Republicans must abide by their own standard. What is at stake? There is a great deal of attention this week as to whom the President might select. The simple truth, however, is this: No matter whom President Trump nominates, fundamental rights and protections must be considered because they become at risk if the nominee doesn't respond positively and effectively to these. For example, in November, the Court will hear a renewed legal challenge--brought by the Trump administration--to the Affordable Care Act. Given President Trump's promise to appoint a Justice who would strike down the Affordable Care Act, healthcare access and protections for the nearly 130 million nonelderly Americans with preexisting conditions are really in certain peril, and we have every reason for serious consideration and opposition if this protection is not continued. It is unbelievable that during a pandemic that has already killed more than 200,000 Americans, this President and his allies are rushing a nomination that could leave up to 30 million Americans without healthcare. I hope that doesn't happen. The next Justice will also decide cases concerning women's reproductive rights, voting rights, access to justice, environmental protections, the rights of LGBT Americans, and the rights of American workers. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a champion for all these rights and protections. She is very hard to replace, and it is important to think of those rights that need continued protection when the replacement is made by the President. We cannot allow the Senate and the President to jam through a nominee who will undo this legacy, which is so important to every American because every American has that legacy today, firm, and uses it virtually every day of their life. We are ready to fight, and we will do everything in our power to safeguard these hard-won rights and protections. It is really important. Of all the nominations I have sat as a fairly long-term member--since 1993--of the Judiciary Committee, these protections and rights are really all important and must be protected. They will be what we are looking at when the nominee comes to the Senate. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
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