[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 122 (Thursday, July 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5079-S5080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF BRETT KAVANAUGH

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, speaking of excellent nominees, I 
would like to speak for a moment about President Trump's outstanding

[[Page S5080]]

choice for the Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
  This week, even more of our colleagues have had an opportunity to 
meet with Judge Kavanaugh. I am sure they will agree that it is hard 
not to come away impressed--the academic achievement, the judicial 
credentials, the esteem of his peers and fellow legal professionals.
  Of course, that hasn't stopped the far-left special interest groups 
from grasping at straws and trying to smear this nominee any way they 
can. They don't seem to care whether it is honest or not. They don't 
seem to care whether it is accurate or not.
  The latest made-up controversy is an attempt this week to make hay 
out of comments Judge Kavanaugh made about the long ago expired 
independent counsel statute. But, once again, there is no ``there'' 
there, whatsoever.
  Here are the facts. Judge Kavanaugh's apparent concerns about the 
independent counsel law appear in line with mainstream views that have 
been widely held on both sides of the political aisle--views that were, 
in fact, strongly held by many of my Democratic colleagues, at least 
until there was an opportunity to try to make political hay.
  Congress chose to let the statute expire back in 1999, based in large 
part on constitutional concerns.
  Let me say that again. The Congress, in 1999, on a bipartisan basis, 
decided to let the independent counsel statute expire.
  My colleague, the senior Senator from Illinois, the assistant 
Democratic leader in the Senate right now, explained this well when he 
was fighting any attempt to renew the statute. Here is what he said in 
1999 about the independent counsel: ``Unchecked, unbridled, 
unrestrained, and unaccountable.''
  My friend from Illinois punctuated his enthusiasm for the demise of 
the independent counsel law by saying: ``I would like to say to Judge 
Starr and all of the other counsels, your days are numbered.''
  I agreed with him about the independent counsel statute. A number of 
us, in both parties, saw it the very same way. So we happily allowed 
the law to expire.
  This has nothing to do with special counsels. That is different from 
the independent counsel. The day the independent counsel statute 
expired, the day we actually finished with the impeachment trial of 
President Clinton in the Senate, Senator Chris Dodd from Connecticut 
and I went upstairs and had a press conference, stating that we agreed 
that the independent counsel statute ought to be allowed to expire, and 
it did. That has nothing to do with any special counsels or any tools 
that are currently in place for elected officials to be held 
accountable. This has nothing to do with any investigations that are in 
the headlines today.
  What Judge Kavanaugh was talking about is a law that has not existed 
for two decades and which the Supreme Court upheld with only a single 
dissenting vote. One of the dissenters in the case that upheld the 
independent counsel statute was Justice Scalia.
  The irony or hypocrisy is that our Democratic colleagues are now 
criticizing Judge Kavanaugh because he may hold the same views on this 
subject that they did, at least until Judge Kavanaugh was nominated. It 
is a view that was shared and acted upon by Members of this body on 
both sides of the aisle, as I have explained.
  So it is another day, another off-base attack.
  Here is how Newsweek dismissed this tempest in a teapot: ``Law 
experts told Newsweek that Kavanaugh's view on independent counsels has 
nothing to do with special counsels or Mueller's probe and, in fact, 
the two types of federal investigations are completely different.''
  Yet again, the far-left special interest groups that are desperate to 
deny Judge Kavanaugh fair treatment are hoping the media will buy their 
latest made-up charge.
  Do you remember the outrage when it was learned that Judge Kavanaugh 
enjoys baseball? My goodness--shocking.
  Well, I am proud the President has chosen a nominee who is as strong 
as Judge Kavanaugh. We should put aside these unfair attacks and 
misrepresentations and give his nomination the fair treatment it 
deserves.

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