[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 8, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S64-S65]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO MIKE DAVIS
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I would like to pay tribute to Mike
Davis for his incredibly hard work on my Senate Judiciary Committee
staff as chief counsel for nominations. He is an Iowan, so his work
ethic should be no surprise, but he went above and beyond to ensure
that the Senate confirmed a historic number of Federal judges during
the 115th Congress, including the very difficult confirmation of
Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In December, Mike spoke about his work for me
to the Iowa Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. I ask unanimous
consent that the text of Mike's speech be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Kavanaugh and Beyond: Judicial Confirmations in the Trump
Administration
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you to Sam Langholz and the
rest of the Iowa lawyers' chapter of the Federalist Society
for inviting me to speak today. The Federalist Society
continues to perform the critical task of building the farm
team of constitutionalist, originalist, and textualist
lawyers across America who can go on to serve in senior
government posts, including in the federal judiciary. Sam is
no doubt one of those lawyers. I have known Sam for more than
20 years, from our college internship days in Washington. Sam
is an exceptional lawyer and leader, and Governor Kim
Reynolds and all Iowans are fortunate to have Sam serving as
a senior member of the Governor's team.
I am completing my service as one of Senator Chuck
Grassley's lawyers on the United States Senate Committee on
the Judiciary, where Senator Grassley is finishing his 4-year
tenure as the Chairman. In January, Senator Grassley is
taking over the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee,
along with assuming the constitutional office of President
Pro Tempore of the United States Senate. As President Pro
Tem, Senator Grassley will become third in line in the
presidential succession, behind the Vice President and the
Speaker of the House. It also means that Senator Grassley
must have a protective detail, which he absolutely does not
want. But as I remind him, the deer across Iowa can now cross
Iowa's highways a little more easily without the fear of
Chuck Grassley behind the wheel. At least for the next two
years, anyway.
In all seriousness, I am very proud to work for Senator
Grassley. He is 85 years old, and his health is excellent.
His mind is razor-sharp. He remembers everything. He still
runs several miles, several times a week. He still runs
circles around his staff, especially me. In fact, the
``Farmer from Iowa'' schools me on the law, when I am
supposed to advise him on legal issues. When he does this, I
tell him that at least my jokes are better than his. He
laughs. Sometimes.
Senator Grassley is one of the most kind, caring, decent
people I have ever met. He comes home to Iowa virtually every
weekend. He puts Iowans above all. And he will never become a
creature of The Swamp, even after his 44 years in Congress.
Yet Senator Grassley is one of the most--if not the most--
consequential lawmakers in Washington. And his chairmanship
of the Senate Judiciary Committee has been one of the most
consequential in our nation's history.
In fact, earlier today, following Senator Grassley's dogged
and determined leadership, Senator Grassley joined the
President at the White House for the bill signing of the
First Step Act--a once-in-a-generation criminal-justice-
reform bill that Senator Grassley wrote and shepherded
through Congress. No one expected this legislation to pass,
let alone with overwhelmingly bipartisan support. Yet Senator
Grassley is the one senator--with the experience,
credibility, and trust of his colleagues across the political
spectrum--who could have made this happen.
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During his 4-year chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, Senator Grassley led the effort to report out of
committee 61 bills. The Senate passed 45, and 29 became law.
Regardless of what you think about the particulars of any one
of these laws, very few in Washington have this record of
legislative success. As always, Grassley works. And Grassley
delivers. Like he has done for his 38 years in the Senate.
I am particularly pleased to join you today to discuss one
of Senator Grassley's most significant legislative
achievements of his nearly 60-year career in public office.
As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator
Grassley led the historic and record-shattering effort to
confirm President Trump's lifetime-appointed judicial
nominees.
Over the last two years, Senator Grassley has led the
effort in confirming 85 new federal judges. This includes
Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, an all-time record 30
circuit judges, and 53 district judges.
At 85 judges appointed under President Trump, Senator
Grassley has led the effort to confirm nearly twice as many
judges as the 43 judges that President Obama appointed in his
first two years in office.
Moreover, in 2017, Senator Grassley led the effort in
setting the all-time record for federal circuit judges
confirmed during a president's first year in office, at 12
circuit judges confirmed.
And earlier this year, Senator Grassley led the effort in
setting the all-time record for federal circuit judges
confirmed during a president's first two years in office. The
previous record was 22; Senator Grassley helped smash this
record, by leading the effort to confirm 30 federal circuit
judges in less than 2 years.
And Senator Grassley has readied the field for 2019, when
Senator Graham takes over as the chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. Senator Grassley and the Senate
Judiciary Committee have already held hearings for 50 more
federal judicial nominees, including 6 more federal circuit
nominees, who will have confirmation votes in early 2019.
Senator Grassley has put the ball on the tee for his
successor.
While Senator Grassley had made this look easy, it
certainly was not. Senator Grassley and his team thoroughly
vet each of these nominees, carefully examining their
backgrounds and qualifications, understanding their judicial
philosophy, and carefully assessing their character and
fitness to serve. Senator Grassley held 20 nominations
hearings this year alone, generally every other Wednesday
that the Senate was in session. And Senator Grassley
generally held committee meetings for debates and votes on
nominees almost every Thursday that the Senate was in
session. And Senator Grassley worked both behind the scenes
and in public, to build support for these judicial nominees.
This took a significant amount of Senator Grassley's time.
But Senator Grassley understands the critical importance of
appointing judges who find and apply the law as the public
understood the law at the time of its writing. And Senator
Grassley also understands the dangers to liberty--in fact,
the tyranny--when judges think it is their job to substitute
their policy preferences for those of the American people and
their elected representatives in Congress.
Fortunately, we are winning. The President is fulfilling
his promise to the American people to nominate and appoint
judges who are constitutionalists, originalists, and
textualists.
Senator Grassley had to overcome historic obstruction by
Senate Democrats. The Senate Democrats forced time-wasting
and unprecedented cloture votes on 48 of the judicial
nominees brought to the Senate floor. How rare are cloture
votes for judicial nominees? Only 2 of President Obama's
nominees in the first two years faced cloture votes. Only 3
of President George W. Bush's nominees from the first two
years faced cloture votes. Only 1 for Clinton; 0 for H.W.
Bush; 0 for Reagan.
And the Senate Democrats' obstruction tactics were on full
display during the confirmation process for Justice Brett
Kavanaugh, who the Senate confirmed on October 7, 2018.
Senator Grassley oversaw the most comprehensive and
transparent confirmation process in history, including fully
investigating a number of allegations against Justice
Kavanaugh that turned out to be completely meritless.
Senator Grassley and his team reviewed the most
documentation in Supreme Court nomination history--including
more than 500,000 pages of Justice Kavanaugh's records from
his prior government legal service.
Additionally, Senator Grassley and his team also reviewed
more than 300 written opinions--more than 10,000 pages--that
Justice Kavanaugh wrote or joined in his more than 12 years
of service on the D.C. Circuit, the most important federal
circuit court in America. We also reviewed more than 17,000
pages of Justice Kavanaugh's academic writings, speeches, and
other materials provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee in
response to its most expansive questionnaire ever submitted
to a nominee.
Even after the 4-day hearing, in which Justice Kavanaugh
testified for more than 32 hours, Senate Democrats submitted
1,287 written questions for the record--more than the total
number submitted to all prior Supreme Court nominees in our
history, combined.
The normal hearing process confirmed for Senator Grassley
that Justice Kavanaugh was one of the most qualified, if not
the most qualified, Supreme Court nominee in our history. The
Senate Democrats and their liberal allies landed no punches.
Justice Kavanaugh had gone through 6 prior FBI full-field
background investigations, going back to 1993. He had served
in the highest positions in the White House and on the second
most important court in the land for more than a dozen years.
It was very clear that Justice Kavanaugh unquestionably had
the character and fitness to serve.
The Senate Democrats and their liberal allies ensured that
what should have been a ``normal'' confirmation hearing was
anything but normal. From the opening moments, Senate
Democrats conducted themselves more like petulant children
than United States senators. They interrupted the Chairman
with inappropriate motions and wild yelling. Indeed,
throughout the hearing, we experienced a senator--who
proclaimed to become Spartacus--willfully leaking
confidential records, another senator asking misleading
innuendo-laced questions with no basis, and other senators
doing other outrageous things.
Leftwing allies followed the disgraceful lead of these
senators. With Justice Kavanaugh's two young daughters in the
room, paid protestors shouted vile things, disrupting the
hearing and dragging the process on for hours longer than
necessary. This mob-like behavior was apparent throughout the
process, as angry paid protestors harassed senators, their
families, and their staffs.
When the hearing days were over and it was clear that
Justice Kavanaugh was a good man with impeccable credentials,
Senate Democrats and their leftwing allies went back to their
playbook from the Justice Thomas confirmation. But this time,
Senate Democrats and their leftwing allies went even farther,
accusing Justice Kavanaugh of being a serial gang-rapist who
drugged women at parties in his teenage years and even
through his 20s. While the FBI found no evidence of this in
any of its previous 6 full-field background investigations
conducted during Justice Kavanaugh's 25 years of public
service, Senator Grassley nonetheless took the allegations
seriously.
More than 20 staff members of Senator Grassley's Oversight
& Investigations Unit and Nominations Unit immediately began
investigating these claims. They worked around the clock.
Their work was thorough and comprehensive. Senator Grassley
was satisfied it contained all the answers he needed, but
some senators demanded a supplemental FBI investigation. All
senators were able to review that supplemental report, and
most were satisfied that it confirmed what we already knew
and what Justice Kavanaugh had been saying from the
beginning: Justice Kavanaugh was innocent of the outrageous
allegations made against him.
After Justice Kavanaugh's confirmation, Senator Grassley's
staff produced a report of more than 400 pages, which
catalogues the tireless work his staff did in investigating
these allegations. This report made clear that some of the
people who made the wild accusations against Justice
Kavanaugh deserved to be criminally referred to the Justice
Department. And Senator Grassley made those criminal
referrals.
Senator Grassley felt strongly about making this report
public, because it demonstrates his commitment to process--
something many Senate Democrats wanted none of. To them, due
process is inconvenient when it stands in the way of
achieving their political ends. Senator Grassley, however,
knows that upholding the constitutional cornerstone of due
process, of innocence until proven guilty, was worth fighting
for. And Senator Grassley helped deliver justice; Justice
Kavanaugh prevailed.
The American people clearly felt the same way. Indeed, in
an election that showed big gains for Democrats across the
country, Republicans actually gained 2 seats in the Senate.
Voters booted out of office Trump-state Senate Democrats who
voted against Justice Kavanaugh--like Claire McCaskill from
Missouri, Joe Donnelly from Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp from
North Dakota, and Bill Nelson from Florida. The one Senate
Democrat who actually voted the way his constituents wanted
him--Joe Manchin from West Virginia--won reelection.
These legislative victories are just more in the long line
of wins that the country has seen during Senator Grassley's
time chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee. Again, Senator
Grassley works; Senator Grassley delivers.
Thank you for your continued support of Senator Grassley.
And thank you for your continued efforts in helping to find,
credential, and appoint judges who share our judicial
philosophy. We can never get tired of winning. The stakes are
too high.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
I am happy to answer your questions.
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