[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 166 (Friday, October 5, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S6701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            VOTE EXPLANATION

  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President I would like to discuss my strong support 
for the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be Associate Justice of 
the Supreme Court of the United States. In July I had the opportunity 
to meet with Judge Kavanaugh in my office, and it was clear to me that 
President Trump had nominated an outstanding jurist who was well-
qualified and ready to be our next Supreme Court Justice.
  From the very beginning, just minutes after his nomination, some of 
my Democratic colleagues had already decided to oppose Judge Kavanaugh 
at all costs. They refused to meet with him, spread a misinformation 
campaign about his record, and claimed he was outside of the 
mainstream. The indisputable fact is that Judge Kavanaugh is the 
mainstream. His reasoning has been adopted by the Supreme Court more 
than a dozen times, and he is well respected by people across the 
spectrum, from fellow judges to those who have argued before him.
  Judge Kavanaugh sat through more than 30 hours of testimony before 
the Senate Judiciary Committee and subsequently responded to 1,287 
questions for the record, more than every previous Supreme Court 
nominee combined. It was not until the 11th hour, when Judge Kavanaugh 
was on the verge of being confirmed, that unsubstantiated and 
uncorroborated claims from 36 years ago were leaked to the media in a 
last ditch effort to derail his nomination. The F.B.I. conducted yet 
another background investigation, its seventh, and yet again, nothing 
was discovered that would disqualify Judge Kavanaugh from sitting on 
the Supreme Court.
  Montanans overwhelmingly want a Supreme Court Justice with impeccable 
academic credentials, someone who does not legislate from the bench, 
but upholds the rule of law and who follows the Constitution. Judge 
Kavanaugh is without a doubt that person.
  Yesterday, I was happy to cast my vote in favor of bringing debate to 
an end on this nomination. While I was unavailable this afternoon for 
the vote due to a longstanding family commitment, I spoke with Judge 
Kavanaugh and assured him that, if my vote was needed for final 
passage, that I would return as soon as possible. I would like to thank 
my good friend and colleague, Senator Murkowski, for pairing votes so 
that my absence would not change the outcome.
  However, I would be remiss not to mention that we would not be in 
this position had my friends across the aisle not turned this entire 
process into a political circus. They have done this for no other 
purpose than to obstruct and delay this nomination through the election 
in hopes that they take back control of this body and block all of 
President Trump's nominees. I fully support Judge Kavanaugh's 
confirmation look forward to his many years of service on the Supreme 
Court.

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