[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 144 (Tuesday, August 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S5966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh

  Mr. President, turning to that work before us, one of the most 
important constitutional duties the Senate performs is to provide 
advice and consent to the President on nominations to his Cabinet, to 
the Federal judiciary, and for other Senate-confirmable positions.
  We have the responsibility to do that with a judge whom he has now 
nominated to succeed Anthony Kennedy as Associate Justice on the U.S. 
Supreme Court. The hearing on his confirmation will occur next week, 
and I hope we will move forward quickly thereafter to vote on his 
confirmation.
  Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation process includes the largest 
production of documents ever in the Senate's consideration of a Supreme 
Court nominee. Well over 400,000 pages of documents have been produced 
on the judge's career. I appreciate Senator Grassley's spearheading 
this effort in such a transparent, efficient, and thorough manner.
  Of course, I think logic would tell us that the best way for us to 
judge Kavanaugh is how he ruled in real, concrete cases that came 
before him while serving on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals for 12 
years. That is the best evidence of how he would perform if elevated 
and confirmed to the Supreme Court.
  In Judge Kavanaugh's case, what those rulings show is that he is a 
diligent and thoughtful judge. His rulings are clear and they are 
impartial.
  One of his colleagues, Judge Laurence Silberman, called Judge 
Kavanaugh ``one of the most serious judges'' he has ``ever 
encountered,'' and we expect that kind of seriousness and sobriety when 
it comes to people who wear the black robe and sit in judgment of 
cases. Attorneys who have practiced before Judge Kavanaugh describe him 
as an ``extremely well-prepared, careful, and thorough'' judge.
  As I said, Judge Kavanaugh served on the DC Circuit, where he has 
authored 307 opinions and has attracted praise across the ideological 
spectrum for the clarity of his thought and expression and the 
precision of his legal reasoning.
  He respects the roles and responsibilities that are assigned to the 
different branches of government--three coequal branches--by the 
Constitution, and he sees the proper role of the judiciary as a 
limited, albeit important, one--not to make policy but to interpret the 
law and apply it to individual cases impartially, as written, with no 
eye cast toward the politics of the outcome or a desire to put a thumb 
on the scales of justice in favor or against one of the litigants.
  Judge Kavanaugh has shown through his opinions that he adheres to 
precedent--something careful, thoughtful judges do--paying a keen eye 
to legal history and tradition and putting an emphasis on the text of 
the relevant statutes when interpreting them. How better to effectuate 
Congress's intent than to read and apply the statutes that are signed 
into law.
  This is in the nominee's own words:

       [The] text may be pro-business or pro-labor, pro-
     development or pro-environment, pro-bank or pro-consumer. 
     Regardless, judges should follow clear text where it leads.

  Judge Kavanaugh also approaches his job with humility. When 
describing his mindset, he said that a good judge has to ``keep 
learning,'' that they should constantly challenge themselves to study 
legal problems in greater depth, even when doing so forces them to 
reconsider their ``instincts and prior inclinations.''
  That is exactly the kind of Justice the Supreme Court needs--one that 
is never content to rest on his laurels, one that is constantly 
educating and improving himself when it comes to the history of our 
country or the nuances and difficult or technical aspects of the law.
  The truth is that since his nomination Judge Kavanaugh has 
demonstrated that he is imminently qualified and well respected by all 
who know him and those familiar with his work.
  So as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I look forward next 
Tuesday to participating in the confirmation hearings, and soon 
thereafter I look forward to voting to confirm him as the next Justice 
on the Supreme Court of the United States.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.