[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 24, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      A NEW SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, all of us were saddened in the last 2 
weeks at the loss of the longest serving jurist, Justice Scalia. There 
is no doubt he loved the law and he loved the Court.
  With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that, in 
recognition of Justice Scalia's love of the law and the love of that 
Court, we honor his memory by fulfilling the constitutional duty that 
the other body has to and the constitutional duty that the President 
has to, which is to advise and consent on a nomination made by the 
President or not consent made by the President of a Supreme Court 
Justice.
  The claim that this is an 80-year precedent that has not been broken 
based upon the time that the President is now serving--332 days--there 
is no such term as a lame duck in the United States Congress is 
incorrect. It was recently done in 1988, under President Reagan, with 
Justice Kennedy, when he was nominated by a Democrat-controlled Senate, 
97-0.
  It is important that we express to the American people that we are 
willing to do our duty. I would adhere to the Latin term in English: 
the last expression of the people prevail. The President of the United 
States was duly elected in 2012. His term has not ended.
  I applaud the President for doing his constitutional duty. I think it 
is important for us to do our constitutional duty, the Congress of the 
United States, and address the question on making sure the Court is 
full to do its duty.

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