[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 164 (Wednesday, October 3, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6455-S6456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF BRETT KAVANAUGH

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is safe to say the national 
spectacle the professional left has created around Judge Brett 
Kavanaugh's confirmation process has now reached some kind of fever 
pitch in the 17 days since Dr. Ford's confidential correspondence was 
leaked to the press--17 days of a feeding frenzy on Judge Kavanaugh and 
his family, unlike anything we have seen in recent memory.
  Since then, a literal mudslide of wild, uncorroborated accusations 
has literally poured out--each more outlandish than the last. This 
mudslide has been actively embraced, urged on, and capitalized upon by 
the Democrats inside this Chamber and by the organized far-left special 
interests outside. It hasn't been about getting to the truth or giving 
anyone a fair hearing; it has only been about one thing--the far left's 
hunger to bring down Judge Kavanaugh's nomination by any means 
necessary.
  If facts and evidence couldn't get the job done, then intimidation 
tactics and bullying would have to do. Sometimes this intimidation 
campaign has been aimed at the nominee. Colleagues, including my friend 
the Democratic leader, have tried to get Judge Kavanaugh to withdraw 
from this process because of these uncorroborated and sometimes 
absolutely ridiculous allegations.
  When that didn't work, then the far left tried to bully and 
intimidate Members of this body--Republican U.S. Senators. They tried 
to bully and intimidate us. One of our colleagues and his family were 
effectively run out of a restaurant by these people in recent days. 
Another reported having protesters physically block his car door, and 
some have seen organized far-left protesters camp out at their homes.
  I am not suggesting we are the victims here, but I want to make it 
clear to these people who are chasing my Members around the hall here 
or harassing them at the airports or going to their homes: We will not 
be intimidated by these people. There is no chance in the world they 
are going to scare us out of doing our duty. I do not care how many 
Members they chase or how many people they harass here in the halls. I 
want to make one thing perfectly clear: We will not be intimidated by 
these people. This is all part of the organized effort to delay, 
obstruct, and intimidate those of us who will be voting this week.
  A few days ago, I did something I rarely do: I offered a prediction. 
I predicted that here in the last few days before the Senate is to vote 
on Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation, the Democratic conference would 
continue to make good on its leader's promise and fight this nomination 
with everything it has got. I predicted that, on a dime,

[[Page S6456]]

the very supplemental background investigation for which my Democratic 
friends had clamored would suddenly become insufficient and that no 
matter what accommodations would be made, no matter what agreements 
would be reached, the Senate Democrats would find more excuses to 
continue moving the goalposts one more time.
  Granted, this was not exactly a radical prediction. This body and 
this Nation have spent months watching their friends across the aisle 
grasp at every imaginable excuse to delay this process and damage this 
nominee. So I felt pretty safe in saying the last goalposts would soon 
be on the move yet again, but even I was not sure it would happen this 
quickly.
  Let's start with the Democratic leader and the ranking member of the 
Judiciary Committee. In a letter released on September 23, they 
suggested that the FBI had ample time to conduct a supplemental 
investigation before the hearing that was scheduled just 4 days later. 
They insisted an inquiry would ``not take a `tremendous amount of 
time.' '' The Democratic leader brushed aside the notion that this--the 
seventh background investigation of Judge Kavanaugh--would delay the 
process, saying, ``It will only take a few days.'' Well, that was, of 
course, before we agreed last Friday to delay the proceedings by no 
more than 1 week to accommodate just such an inquiry.
  Naturally, we are now hearing a different tune. Yesterday, the 
ranking member stated her view that voting this Friday on Judge 
Kavanaugh's nomination as planned would be ``too soon.'' There go those 
goalposts again, moving right on down. In that same letter, the 
Democratic leader and the senior Senator from California called for the 
supplemental investigation because ``conducting background 
investigations on nominees has long been the FBI's standard practice.'' 
Here is what ``standard practice'' means: The FBI conducts interviews, 
prepares a careful report, and makes it available for Senators to 
review. ``Standard practice'' does not mean what the Democratic leader 
decided to demand for the first time yesterday now that the FBI is 
concluding its review. You get the picture.
  As it concludes the review, it is not enough. We are to have yet 
another delay so FBI agents are made to appear--listen to this--for in-
person briefings and so that Democrats can cross-examine the agents to 
see if they are satisfied with how they did their jobs. Is anybody 
surprised about this? There go those goalposts again.
  Well, guess what. Our Democratic colleagues have made it abundantly 
clear they will never ever be satisfied, not ever. Does anyone really 
think the same people who said any nominee of this President would 
result ``in the destruction of the Constitution'' will be satisfied? 
Does anyone really think the same people who called Judge Kavanaugh 
``evil'' long before they heard one word of testimony from anyone will 
be satisfied? Does anyone really think the same people who said their 
goal was to delay this nomination past the election will be satisfied? 
To ask the question is to answer it. If my friends across the aisle 
were to have their way, the goalposts on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination 
would be in another time zone by now.
  Our Democratic colleagues are quickly running out of material. One of 
their last efforts seems to be the new argument--notwithstanding 
whether these allegations can be corroborated in any way--that the real 
crime here is that Judge Kavanaugh stood up for his family and took 
umbrage at this disgraceful spectacle. He is now expected to witness 
this disgraceful spectacle and not get upset about it.
  I would ask any of my colleagues: How would you feel if your entire 
reputation had been destroyed in this mudslide? Would you be calm about 
it?
  For weeks now, a national media feeding frenzy has literally dragged 
Judge Kavanaugh and his family through the mud. He has been subjected 
to the most vile and disgusting accusations. His wife has been 
threatened and his young daughters traumatized.
  In many instances, my Democratic colleagues have ushered on these 
absurdly disgusting accusations and tried to give them a veneer of 
credibility, specifically citing them now as a reason why Judge 
Kavanaugh should not be confirmed. Our Democratic colleagues are 
enabling this mudslide and encouraging it. Now the same Democratic 
Senators have the temerity to say Judge Kavanaugh disqualified himself 
for the Supreme Court because he got a little testy at the hearing 
after they drug him through the mud--because he told them how much 
damage these accusations had caused him and his family.
  Let's get one thing straight right now: I don't want to meet the man 
or woman who wouldn't be frustrated and angry by a coordinated strategy 
to destroy his or her good name on the altar of partisan politics.
  The Senate has received an incredible volume of testimony about Judge 
Kavanaugh's exemplary judicial temperament. We have heard from faculty 
of his alma mater, who called him ``a fair-minded jurist who believes 
in the rule of law'' and ``commands wide and deep respect'' among his 
legal peers, and from his former law clerks who say: ``He listens 
carefully to the views of his colleagues and clerks, even--indeed, 
especially--when they differ from his own.'' Yet some still prioritize 
partisan point-scoring ahead of Judge Kavanaugh's actual record.

  We have heard overwhelming testimony that Judge Kavanaugh's time on 
the Federal bench has been defined by equanimity, even-handedness, and 
fair treatment of all parties.
  It is time to put this embarrassing spectacle behind us. The American 
people are sick of the display that has been put on here in the U.S. 
Senate in the guise of a confirmation process.
  The FBI is finishing up a supplemental background investigation. It 
will soon add this information to Judge Kavanaugh's file for Senators' 
consideration. This is the standard practice. Then, pursuant to last 
week's agreement of a delay no longer than 1 week, the Senate will vote 
on this nomination this week. The Senate will vote on this nomination 
this week.
  When we do, we will be voting on one of the most impressive and most 
stunningly qualified Supreme Court nominees in our Nation's history. We 
will be voting to confirm a new Supreme Court Justice who possesses 
sterling academic credentials, widely acknowledged legal brilliance, an 
exemplary legal temperament, and a proven commitment to complete 
fairness on the bench. That is what the Senate will do this week.

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