Senate To Consider Four Circuit Court Nominees Next Week
Democrats’ obstruction ‘didn’t stop the Senate from confirming Scott Palk. It will not stop the Senate from confirming Trevor McFadden. And it will not stop the Senate from confirming even more outstanding nominees next week. You can count on it.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor after filing cloture on four more well-qualified circuit court nominees:
“In my opening remarks today, I commended President Trump once again for the many outstanding judicial nominations he has made — and I reiterated the Senate’s determination once more to continue confirming them, regardless of the often-mindless partisan obstruction we’ve being seeing across the aisle. This pointless obstruction is designed simply to waste time, not change an outcome — and it won’t. It didn’t stop the Senate from confirming Scott Palk. It will not stop the Senate from confirming Trevor McFadden. And it will not stop the Senate from confirming even more outstanding nominees next week. You can count on it.
“I have filed cloture on four more well-qualified nominees for our nation’s Circuit Courts: Notre Dame law professor Amy Barrett, nominee for the 7th Circuit, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen, nominee for the 6th Circuit, Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid, nominee for the 10th Circuit and University of Pennsylvania law professor Stephanos Bibas, nominee for the 3rd Circuit. By confirming these nominees we can take a big step toward restoring our nation’s courts to their proper role: interpreting and applying the law based on what it actually says, not what a judge wishes it might say. It’s quite a departure from the last administration’s philosophy when it came to selecting judicial nominees.
“For the last eight years, we had a president who said a criterion for lifetime positions was the ability to empathize with certain groups over others. It came be known as the quote-unquote ‘empathy standard.’ That’s a great standard if you’re the party in the case whom the judge has empathy for. It’s not so great if you’re the other person. It also was not in keeping with the longstanding American legal traditions of applying the law equally to all, giving every litigant a fair shake, and ruling based on the actual meaning of our Constitution and laws — not what a judge or some preferred political constituency might wish they meant.
“That, I believe, is the view of the American people. President Trump has done a terrific job of nominating judges who are already helping to restore the courts to their intended function in our system of government. The nominees we’ll consider next week are sure to do the same. We’ll continue our efforts with consideration of the Barrett nomination on Monday. Amy Barrett is a professor of law at one of our nation’s premier law schools. Notre Dame happens to be a Catholic university. Amy Barrett happens to be a nominee who is Catholic--and who speaks freely and openly about her faith and its importance to her. For some on the Left, that seems to be a disqualifying factor for her nomination.
“I would remind colleagues that we do not have religious tests for office in this country. There is no religious test for office in the United States of America. Amy Barrett’s nomination has received outstanding reviews. She is clearly well-qualified for the office to which she has been nominated. As the President of Notre Dame recently wrote, ‘Her experience as a clerk for Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is of the highest order. So, too, is her scholarship in the areas of federal courts, constitutional law and statutory interpretation.’ Amy Barrett is going to make an outstanding federal Circuit Court judge. So too, will Ms. Larsen, Ms. Eid, and Mr. Bibas. I look forward to the Senate confirming them all next week.”
Related Issues: Nominations, Senate Democrats, Judicial Nominations
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