[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 136 (Thursday, August 16, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5683-S5684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I come to the floor of the Senate today 
to express myself on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has been named by 
President Trump to the Supreme Court of the United States, subject to 
the confirmation of the U.S. Senate.
  Probably the most serious responsibility all of us have is the 
confirmation of those who are appointed to lifetime appointments in the 
judiciary and certain other high places in our government. It is a 
responsibility that should be treasured, respected, and never abused or 
never trivialized.
  President Trump has done what every President has done in the past: 
He has nominated the best available--Brett Kavanaugh, who stands before 
this Senate today. There is no better person for the job on the U.S. 
Supreme Court.
  Brett Kavanaugh is the real deal. He is the real deal, and he went to 
Yale. That doesn't make him great. I think the University of Georgia is 
great, myself. But the Yankees have been bragging about Yale, so we 
always say nice things about them. He is very smart. He graduated cum 
laude from Yale.
  He has trained so many young lawyers in his career, it is not even 
funny. He has had so many clerk with him. He has written so much that 
has been copied by other courts and adopted as a part of law; it is a 
great testimony to his ability and his intellect.
  He served several years as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, a private 
firm. He served as a clerk at the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. 
He has been a teacher and today teaches at Harvard University in the 
Samuel Williston lecture series and was nominated by Elena Kagan, a 
member of the U.S. Supreme Court.
  He is the real deal in a lot of ways, and I want to take a minute to 
share why I am going to vote for him. I want somebody on the Supreme 
Court who understands me--an average American, somebody who has a 
family, two kids, works for a living, loves their country, and would do 
the right thing and will not do it for any other reason than to do the 
right thing.
  My motto in life has always been Mark Twain's quote: When confronted 
with a difficult decision, do what is right. You will surprise a few, 
but you will amaze the rest. Doing the right thing is the right thing 
to do every time, but it is the hardest thing to at do almost any time. 
In fact, as my father used to say: Son, do what you want to do when 
nobody is looking, and when nobody is looking, do the same thing you do 
when they are looking because you always want to do the right thing 
regardless of the question and regardless of what answer you have to 
give.
  The Supreme Court is a tremendous responsibility in our government. 
It is one-third of our government. We have a three-legged school of 
government: the bureaucracy--we are in the legislative branch; the 
executive branch, which the President runs; but the Supreme Court is 
the ultimate arbiter. I want a level-headed person who understands me 
making those decisions.
  I think the following qualifies as a level-headed person: More than a 
dozen times, his opinions have been endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court. 
His 100 most cited opinions have been cited by more than 210 judges 
across the country. More than 50 circuit court opinions discuss or cite 
one of his concurrences or dissents. Of his 48 clerks, 39 have gone on 
to clerk for the Supreme Court of the United States. One of his clerks, 
Britt Grant from Georgia, was confirmed last week by this U.S. Senate 
to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. That is a pretty high 
testament to a man of his youth and a man of his experience.
  He has two beautiful children, a lovely wife, and is a committed 
family man. But let me tell you what makes him special: He is not 
pretentious. My first meeting with him was an odd meeting. It was a 
rare meeting. It was on the first floor outside of the elevators coming 
to this Chamber. I had just come in from the rain. I was standing 
there, trying to get myself halfway dried off, and there came a slew of 
police. I figured the President was coming. You know, they always run 
us out of there. The cops came in, and the dogs came in--and everybody 
else. All of a sudden, there was a guy; at first, I didn't recognize 
him. Then I realized, with all the press trying to get up close to him, 
he must be somebody really important. He wasn't us; he was Brett 
Kavanaugh.
  He saw me. He stopped, came over, and said: Johnny, how are you 
doing? That impressed me a lot. Of course, I know he had been back 
there studying, just like the pages, so you can remember who we are, so 
you can say our name, and it is a good thing to do. He talked to me as 
though I was his long-lost friend. He stopped, and we talked for 4 or 5 
minutes.
  Two days later, when we came to my office and we talked again, we 
talked about family, we talked about food, we talked about fun, we 
talked about the United States of America, and we talked about the 
greatness and potential of our country and its future. We talked about 
everything we loved about it and what we would do to protect it, save 
it, and how we both felt honored to be in the positions we were in.
  Toward the end of the conversation, I said: Now, one thing about it, 
Mr. Kavanaugh, I understand you had a little issue with buying season 
tickets to the baseball games. In fact, the first thing Democrats came 
up with is that he makes too much money or he has too much money 
because he bought season tickets and used his credit card. I don't 
think that is a dumb idea. I think that is a compliment--a guy who 
loves baseball, loves politics, and loves America. It doesn't get any 
better than that.
  So I am going to vote for Brett Kavanaugh to confirm him to the U.S. 
Supreme Court because he is a regular guy, he is a brilliant man, he 
cares about his country deeply, he believes in this country, and he 
feels a responsibility that he wants to assume at this time in life. I 
can't think of any better reasons to vote for him.
  I am going to vote for him with pride, and I urge all my fellow 
Senators in the U.S. Senate to join me as well.
  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. PERDUE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the nomination of 
Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States. One of 
the great privileges we have in the U.S. Senate is the responsibility 
of confirming nominees a President puts forward for this awesome 
lifetime responsibility on the U.S. Supreme Court.
  Likewise, nominating Justices to the Supreme Court is one of the most 
important responsibilities the Constitution bestows upon the President 
of the United States. President Trump knows this, obviously, and has 
clearly taken this charge very seriously.
  Last year, President Trump made an outstanding choice in nominating 
Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. I remember the debate on 
this floor, and I am delighted with his performance since he has been 
on the U.S. Supreme Court. President Trump has again put forward an 
impressive nominee in Judge Brett Kavanaugh for this awesome 
responsibility on the U.S. Supreme Court.
  A former clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy, Judge Kavanaugh is an 
accomplished, experienced jurist with over 300 published opinions. More 
than 50 circuit court opinions cite one of his concurrences or 
dissents, and the Supreme Court has actually endorsed his opinions more 
than a dozen times.

[[Page S5684]]

  Judge Kavanaugh has dedicated his life to public service, serving in 
various roles in the executive branch under President George W. Bush 
and for the last 12 years on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the 
DC Circuit.
  Throughout his years of service, Judge Kavanaugh has also had a very 
positive impact on those around him. Just last week, one of Judge 
Kavanaugh's earliest clerks was sworn in to serve on the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit of the United States. That judge is 
Judge Britt Grant, a native Georgian.
  Judge Grant clerked for Judge Kavanaugh, served on Georgia's Supreme 
Court, was elected to a full term without opposition, and is now a 
justice on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Judge Kavanaugh introduced her 
when she was sworn in to the Georgia Supreme Court, and he swore her in 
to the court of appeals last week. That both Judge Grant and Judge 
Kavanaugh are where they are today is a testament to their years of 
service and work upholding the U.S. Constitution.
  Even with Judge Kavanaugh's outstanding qualifications, which 
transcend party lines, some of my colleagues across the aisle are 
already hysterically opposing him. In fact, some of my colleagues 
promised to vote against the nominee before Judge Kavanaugh had even 
officially been nominated. That kind of blind partisanship is exactly 
what the American people find unacceptable about Washington--one of the 
many things.
  Judge Kavanaugh is an independent, well-qualified nominee to the U.S. 
Supreme Court who will defend and uphold the U.S. Constitution. By the 
way, at the White House, when the President announced that Judge 
Kavanaugh would be his nominee, I was really moved by Judge Kavanaugh's 
comments that night. He first spoke about his mom and how she later in 
life had become a lawyer. He talked about his father, he talked about 
his two children, and only at the very end did he say these brief 
words. He made this comment in the East Room of the White House the 
night that President Donald Trump had nominated him and made it public 
that he was the nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. This is Judge 
Kavanaugh's quote:

       I revere the Constitution. I believe that an independent 
     judiciary is the crown jewel of our constitutional republic. 
     If confirmed by the Senate, I will keep an open mind in every 
     case, and I will always strive to preserve the Constitution 
     of the United States and the American rule of law. I don't 
     know how you can be more clear than that.

  In 2006, during his confirmation hearing for the DC Circuit, he again 
faced unmerited accusations, much as he is today. At that time, Judge 
Kavanaugh simply responded: ``There is one kind of judge . . . an 
independent judge under our Constitution.''
  I think it is very clear where this man's mind is, and that is to 
protect and uphold the Constitution of the United States. Those quotes 
show that this man is very serious, and he needs to be strongly 
considered as the next Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
  In my opinion, there can be no higher responsibility in this body 
than to be very diligent in our due diligence of nominating and 
confirming a Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. Having done that, I 
give this man my fullest unreserved recommendation, and I encourage my 
colleagues in this body to also vote positively on this confirmation.