[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 23, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Filling the Supreme Court Vacancy

  Madam President, people across the country are now looking at what is 
happening here in Congress, and they are frustrated. They look at the 
many challenges we face as a Nation, and they want Democrats and 
Republicans to work together to tackle them to make sure our government 
is functioning and that it is working for all of our families, not just 
the wealthy and few.
  Madam President, I share that frustration. We have been able to get 
things done when Democrats and Republicans work together to break 
through the gridlock. That shouldn't end just because it is an election 
year. It certainly should not end when it comes to one of our most 
important roles here in the Senate, working with the President to 
evaluate and confirm judges for the highest court in our land.
  The Supreme Court plays such an important role in protecting the 
rights, liberties, and responsibilities of all Americans. Over the 
years the Court has made decisions that have moved our country in the 
right direction, and it has made decisions that have set us back. When 
the Court can do its work, it offers certainty to people across the 
country when it comes to their rights as workers or as patients or as 
consumers or as women or as citizens. At its best, it helps our 
judicial system rise above politics, above partisanship, and above the 
spats and sniping of the moment. In order to do that, the Court must 
have a full bench. It cannot have vacancies leading to potential 
deadlocks at every turn.
  That is why I was so disappointed that hours after Justice Scalia 
passed away, Republican leaders jumped out of the gate to say they 
would not allow the vacancy to be filled while President Obama was 
still in office. Right away--before the Nation had a chance to take in 
and mourn the loss of a Supreme Court Justice, a man who seriously 
believed in the Constitution--Republican leaders injected politics and 
partisanship into a process that should be about our obligations as 
Americans.
  The Constitution is very clear. Let me take a moment to read from it 
directly.
  In article II, which clearly defines the powers of the President, 
section 2 states that ``he shall nominate and by and with the Advice 
and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public 
Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court and all other 
Officers of the United States.''
  Madam President, this could not be more explicit. The President 
``shall nominate'' and shall appoint with ``the Advice and Consent of 
the Senate''--not shall nominate in the first 3 years, not shall 
nominate unless the Senate leadership wants to keep the seat open for a 
while. The President ``shall nominate.'' That is his responsibility.
  Then it is our responsibility in the Senate to consider, advise, and 
ultimately help make sure that the vacancy is filled with a qualified 
person. Of course, the Senate has the right to weigh in with our advice 
and consent. It is our job to vet nominees sent to us by the President, 
to make sure they are qualified for the job, and to determine if they 
meet the basic standards of honesty, ethics, qualifications, and 
fairness. Personally, this Senator will want to evaluate if they will 
be independent, evenhanded in deciding cases, and if they will uphold 
our rights and liberties, including the critical right to privacy.
  Republican leaders are not objecting to a person; they are objecting 
to this President being allowed to do his job. That is not advice and 
consent; it is politicize and obstruct.
  Republicans say there is a precedent to stall on Supreme Court 
nominations in the last year of a President's term. That is not true. 
President Reagan had Justice Kennedy confirmed with a unanimous vote in 
a Democratic Senate in his last year in office.
  Since 1975, the average number of days from nomination to final 
Senate vote is about 70 days. So this kind of obstruction and 
partisanship is absolutely wrong. People across the country will not 
stand for it, and I hope our Republican leaders will back down and do 
the right thing because evaluating and confirming Supreme Court 
Justices is one of the most important roles we have in the U.S. Senate.
  In fact, it is this issue that actually pushed me to run for the 
Senate in the first place. Back in 1991 I was a State senator, a former 
school board member, a mom. Like so many people at that time, I watched 
the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. For days I watched in 
frustration.
  I couldn't believe this nominee wasn't pushed on the issues that I 
and so many others thought were so important to our country. I didn't 
feel the Members on that committee represented the full spectrum of 
perspectives, and I decided then and there to run for the U.S. Senate 
to give Washington State families a voice.
  Now, as a U.S. Senator, I want my questions answered. I want to make 
sure my constituents have a seat at the table and I get to push 
nominees for the highest Court in the land on the issues I care about 
most, but I can't do that if Republicans play election-year politics 
and don't even allow us to have that debate. The American people will 
not have a voice, the Court will be dysfunctional for a year longer, 
and Republicans will have politicized a process that should be above 
this sort of petty partisanship.
  Many Republicans may not want to hear this, but Barack Obama is still 
President Obama for almost a full year more. This Senator is hopeful 
that Republicans will step back from this very dangerous and very 
partisan path they are on and work with us to consider and confirm a 
nominee in a reasonable timeframe.
  Families across the country deserve to have a functioning Supreme 
Court and a Congress that works well enough to allow this to happen.
  Thank you, Madam President.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gardner). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 
up to 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.