September 24, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 166 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 166
(Senate - September 24, 2020)
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[Pages S5843-S5844] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, now on an entirely different matter, President Trump has stated he will announce his nominee to the Supreme Court the day after tomorrow. We do not yet know which legal all-star from his list he will nominate, but strangely enough, we already do know exactly what the far left will start shouting the instant--the instant--she or he is introduced. Isn't that a little curious, when you stop to think about it? A confirmation process is ostensibly about the qualifications and credentials of the nominee, so why is it that practically any citizen could sit down at their kitchen [[Page S5844]] table right now, days--days--before the nomination, and write down in advance the list of ludicrous accusations the far left has guaranteed to be screaming by Saturday night? It is because year after year, decade after decade, the far left's playbook stays exactly the same. To them, a nominee makes no difference. Every time in 45 years--45 years-- that a Republican President has nominated someone to the Supreme Court, the exact same set of cliched horror stories are wheeled out of storage, dusted off, and paraded past the American people. In 1975, President Gerald Ford put forward a nominee whom the left blasted for his ``consistent opposition to women's rights'' and ``an extraordinary lack of sensitivity to the problems women face.'' Who was this far-right ideologue who was going to turn back the clock? Why, it was the late Justice John Paul Stevens, who went on to lead the Court's liberal wing for decades. In 1987, it was time for an encore performance. A nominee from President Reagan was absolutely savaged by liberal groups. The president of one leftwing group insisted he was a ``sexist'' and ``a disaster for women''--that would be Anthony Kennedy. Once again, the sky did not fall. In fact, when Justice Kennedy retired in 2018, the new head of the exact same liberal organization stated they were ``saddened and alarmed by his retirement.'' The exact same liberal outfit said the sky was falling in the 1980s because Justice Kennedy had been nominated and that the sky was falling in 2018 because he was retiring. In 1990, they got the band back together yet again. This time the sky was falling for sure. President Bush had picked someone whose record was ``very troubling,'' whose juris prudence would surely ``threaten to undo the advances made by women, minorities, dissenters, and other disadvantaged groups,'' whose confirmation would mean ``ending freedom for women in this country.'' Talk about wearing out the volume knob. Oh, that was future Justice David Souter, by the way. One slogan simply said--listen to this: ``Stop Souter or Women Will Die.'' ``Stop Souter or Women Will Die.'' He, too, would go on to become a favorite Justice of many of the very same groups. But it has still never occurred to them to get their crystal balls checked. The same unhinged attacks pour out every time, the same absurd scare tactics every single time. These people are the far-left version of that broadcaster who spent 20 years predicting different dates for the end of the world, raising money, and just inventing a new date every time he was wrong. Justice Scalia was unfit. Justice Thomas hated the rule of law. Justice Alito was ``hostile to the rights of women.'' It is all one big scam directed at the American people. In 2005, one leftwing outfit cut a television ad that tried to link our now-Chief Justice of the United States with a violent bombing of an abortion clinic. Just how despicable can you get? Before this disgusting ad was pulled off the air, it said a future Justice John Roberts would ``excuse violence against other Americans.'' Chief Justice Roberts. Every single time--no matter how upstanding, no matter how qualified, no matter their views, no matter their record--every nominee gets the same insane treatment, so long as the President who nominated them is not a Democrat--so long as the President who nominated them is not a Democrat. Oh, but when Democrats nominate people, none of this happens. When we confirmed Justices Ginsburg and Breyer, I don't recall any angry mobs stalking Senators. When we confirmed Justice Sotomayor, I don't recall weeks of character assassination. When we confirmed Justice Kagan, I don't recall the mainstream media declaring the death of democracy. For half a century we have seen this double standard. When a Democratic President makes a nomination, it is a nonevent by comparison. The coastal political class and their friends in the media allow our national life to go on like normal. But whenever a Republican dares to nominate someone, the same people declare it a state of emergency. So, sadly, we already know what reaction we will see on Saturday: fill-in-the-blank opposition. Remember, in 2017, we saw literal fill- in-the-blank opposition. Demonstrators wanted to assemble outside the Court before they even knew who President Trump would name, so they literally brought stacks of signs that said: ``Oppose (blank)!'' And they brought markers so they could scribble in the name during the President's remarks before the TV cameras got to them. In 2018, moments after the President announced now-Justice Kavanaugh, one leftwing group published a typically absurd statement declaring ``Trump's announcement today is a death sentence''--``a death sentence''--and ``white patriarchal supremacists now have free reign.'' The actual nominee was so irrelevant to their scam that they literally forgot to fill in the blank. The very first line of their press release condemned ``Donald Trump's nomination of XX to the Supreme Court.'' So it is safe to say the American people can start writing their bingo cards right now. We already know every outlandish claim and unhinged attack we are going to hear. In fact, former Vice President Biden has already cut to the front of the line. Just yesterday, he offered the following assessment prior to learning whom he was assessing: ``Women's rights as it relates to everything from medical health care is going to be gone.'' This is former Vice President Biden yesterday. Good luck deciphering what he is trying to say. It sounds like more of the same old junk. Perhaps the Nation will soon watch this man in his late seventies condescend to explain women's healthcare to one of the brilliant women whom President Trump indicates he is considering. Fortunately, the far-left scam artists do not get a vote. The special interest groups' fundraising appeals do not get a vote. The fate of this nomination will be determined by the U.S. Senators whom the American people elected to do this job: a fair hearing, a fair process, and a fair vote on the actual nominee. Forget about fill-in-the-blank. ____________________