[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 1, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S543-S545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of Neil Gorsuch

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, last evening, I had the pleasure of 
being at the White House when President Trump introduced his nominee to 
be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, who 
happens to be serving on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. It 
shouldn't surprise anybody that President Trump delivered on a promise 
made during the campaign, when he listed 21 people he would choose 
from. Everybody knew ahead of time what sort of a judge he would put on 
for this vacancy or any future vacancy.
  Judge Gorsuch's decade of service on the Tenth Circuit has earned him 
a reputation as a brilliant, principled, and mainstream judge, just 
exactly the sort of mainstream that Senator Schumer must have been 
thinking about when he said he wants a mainstream judge.
  It has already been widely reported that he was unanimously confirmed 
by a voice vote to the Tenth Circuit in 2006.
  There are still 31 Senators in this body who voted for the judge at 
that particular time; 12 of them are Democrats, and one of them is 
Senator Schumer. Judge Gorsuch was supported, of course, by both of his 
home State Senators for the Tenth Circuit. One happened to be a 
Republican, and one a Democrat. He has been recognized as a great 
jurist by Members from both parties. For instance, when he was sworn 
into the Tenth Circuit, Senator Salazar, then a Democratic Senator from 
Colorado, remarked that the judge ``has a sense of fairness and 
impartiality that is a keystone of being a judge.''

  The judge happens to be fourth generation Coloradan. He is eminently 
qualified to be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. His 
decades of experience span many facets of our legal system. A graduate 
of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, the judge was also a 
prestigious Marshall scholar at Oxford. He served as Principal Deputy 
Attorney General at the Department of Justice.
  Judge Gorsuch also knows the Supreme Court well, having clerked for 
Supreme Court Justices Byron White and also Anthony Kennedy, who is 
still on the Court.

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  He currently serves with distinction on the Tenth Circuit, where he 
has established himself as a mainstream judge with a reputation as a 
fair and brilliant jurist. As a mainstream jurist, Judge Gorsuch enjoys 
broad respect across the ideological spectrum. At the confirmation 
hearing for his current judgeship on the Tenth Circuit, he was 
introduced by Republican Senator Allard from Colorado and Democratic 
Senator Salazar from Colorado. Senator Salazar, of course, isn't 
exactly a conservative firebrand, having most recently served as head 
of the transition team of Secretary Clinton.
  At his hearing in 2006, William Hughes, Jr., a Democratic candidate 
for the House of Representatives, authored a strong letter of 
recommendation for Judge Gorsuch stating:

       I have never found, nor thought, Neil's views or opinions 
     to be tainted or swayed by any partisan leanings. Quite to 
     the contrary, his approach to all things professional and 
     personal has always been moderate and practical.

  There are plenty of other examples of strong bipartisan support for 
Judge Gorsuch. Even observers in the press recognize his reputation for 
fairness. Just last week the Denver Post endorsed the judge, saying: He 
``has applied the law fairly and consistently.''
  Judge John Kane, a colleague on the District Court of Colorado, 
appointed by President Carter, says this about Judge Gorsuch:

       [He] listens well and decides justly. His dissents are 
     instructive rather than vitriolic. In sum, I think he is an 
     excellent judicial craftsman.

  After his nomination was announced last evening, the highest praise 
so far came from President Obama's former Solicitor General, Neal 
Katyal, who described the nominee this way:

       Judge Gorsuch is one of the most thoughtful and brilliant 
     judges to have served our nation over the last century. As a 
     judge, he has always put aside his personal views to serve 
     the rule of law. To boot, as those of us who have worked with 
     him can attest, he is a wonderfully decent and humane person. 
     I strongly support his nomination to the Supreme Court.

  To me, following the law wherever that law and case may lead is 
perhaps the most important attribute for a Supreme Court Justice to 
possess. That principle guided Justice Scalia's decisionmaking and it 
is also how Judge Gorsuch has said judges should approach the law.
  The judge once wrote, quoting Justice Scalia:

       If you are going to be a good and faithful judge, you have 
     to resign yourself to the fact that you are not always going 
     to like the conclusion you reach. If you like them all the 
     time, you are probably doing something wrong.

  That gets back to something very basic. A judge is supposed to be 
dispassionate. A judge is supposed to leave their personal views out of 
it. A judge looks at the law on the one hand and the facts of the case 
on the other and makes the decision based on just those two things. So 
from what I have learned so far, the judge's judicial record reflects 
this philosophy of being dispassionate, following the Constitution and 
the laws passed by Congress. I think he said last night something like 
this: A judge is supposed to judge and a legislature is supposed to 
legislate, and a judge should not be legislating.
  Judge Gorsuch doesn't legislate from the bench, nor does he impose 
his own beliefs on others. To quote from a speech at Case Western, he 
said that judges should strive ``to apply the law as it is, focusing 
backward, not forward, and looking to the text, structure, and history 
to decide what a reasonable reader at the time of the events in 
question would have understood the law to be--not to decide cases based 
on their own moral convictions or the policy consequences they believe 
might serve society best.''
  I believe it is this fundamental sense of fairness and sense of duty 
in upholding the Constitution and the laws passed by Congress that has 
led Judge Gorsuch to be a highly regarded jurist.
  After the tragic passing of Justice Scalia, we made it clear that the 
Senate would wait for the American people to have a say in the future 
of the Court. I said even before the election that no matter who won 
the Presidential election, we would move forward with the new 
President's nominee. I maintained this position even on the eve of the 
election, and I maintained that position even when everyone seemed to 
believe that our next President would be Secretary Clinton. I have been 
consistent.
  Unfortunately, some of my Democratic colleagues--the very Senators 
who held all those rallies chanting ``we need nine''--have already said 
they intend to do everything they can to stop this eminently qualified 
judge. That is very, very unfortunate. I hope and trust that approach 
won't be uniform on their side.
  So I look forward to moving forward with a hearing, when we will 
learn a great deal more about Judge Gorsuch, and I look forward to an 
up-or-down vote on his nomination.
  I thank the Senate, and I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, finally, on Monday, the Senate moved 
forward with the nomination of Rex Tillerson to be the next Secretary 
of State. His confirmation before this Chamber to serve as our top 
diplomat should have been a no-brainer, but we know that our Democratic 
colleagues are still trying to relitigate the election of November 8, 
and because their preferred candidate lost, they are now trying to do 
everything they can to slow-walk and to hamper the ability of the 
winner, President Trump, to get his Cabinet up and running to govern 
the country. While they think they may be hurting the President and his 
administration, what they are really doing is hurting the American 
people whom the government serves. I hope they will reconsider.
  It is really sad it has taken this long due to the foot-dragging of 
our colleagues across the aisle who are sort of in a resistance mode. I 
really do believe it is like the stages of grief, like the Kubler-Ross 
stages, where the first one, of course, is denial, the second is anger, 
and then ultimately you get to acceptance. But they are a long way to 
acceptance, and they are still in the anger phase of their grieving the 
outcome of the November 8 election.
  When the shoe was on the other foot, we confirmed seven of President 
Obama's Cabinet nominees on the day he was inaugurated--January 20, 
2009--but apparently this is the new normal.
  I just hope our Democratic colleagues realize that this is not 
serving the public interest, and it is not, frankly, good politics, it 
strikes me, to be so angry and throw a temper tantrum--or, as I said 
yesterday to some folks, growing up, people used to talk about throwing 
a hissy fit, and this really strikes me as throwing a hissy fit.
  Much has been made of Rex Tillerson's incredible leadership role in a 
major corporation. Obviously, he has done a tremendous job for one of 
the largest businesses in the world. He was working for the 
shareholders of that corporation in that capacity. Now his enormous 
experience and aptitude and talent are going to be put to work for the 
American Nation and for the American people.
  I believe that not only is he a person of conviction and competence, 
he is also a man of character. He believes in putting this country 
first, and I have no doubt he will serve the United States with great 
integrity and care.
  It is none too early for us to transition to somebody of his great 
qualifications and experience. Our country is no longer respected by 
many of our friends around the world because we have withdrawn from 
international leadership. We are no longer feared by our adversaries, 
who are all too quick to fill the leadership vacuum around the world--
Russia being perhaps the most obvious example not only in Crimea and in 
Ukraine but obviously in Syria and now in Libya. It is dangerous. It is 
destabilizing. So I am very pleased that we will have a new Secretary 
of State and a new national security leadership team.
  If there is one thing that I think President Trump has done right, it 
is select good people, from Mike Pence as the Vice President, Gen. Jim 
Mattis as Secretary of Defense, Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, 
and Gen. John Kelly of the Department of Homeland

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Security. I think he has chosen very well. I could go on and on with 
his Cabinet members and say the same thing about each one of them.
  We will vote on the confirmation of Mr. Tillerson shortly, between 2 
and 2:30 p.m. or in that time frame.