[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 6, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1697-S1698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Chad A. Readler

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the judicial nomination 
coming up and the cloture vote on the other nominee.
  With both nominees, I offered the White House cooperation to choose 
two more moderate nominees for Ohio, both of whom had been vetted by a 
bipartisan commission Senator Portman and I had, and the White House 
said they would rather pick these two extremist judges--these two 
young, far-right judges who have attacked America's healthcare and have 
attacked the consumer protection on preexisting condition.
  Judges are making decisions right now--in this body, fortunately, as 
Members of the Senate, we all have good coverage and health insurance--
that try to take insurance away from millions of Americans and several 
thousands in my State, even as they have tried to eliminate the 
consumer protections for those people who have preexisting conditions. 
There are millions of Americans who are anxious about holding onto 
their insurance because they get sick a lot and it is expensive to take 
care of them. They are afraid of having their insurance canceled, and 
they can't get insurance because of a preexisting condition, and this 
Congress tried to repeal that law and it failed.
  Now, Senator McConnell has turned to the Federal Judiciary, and the 
President of the United States seems to think the only way to eliminate 
the consumer protection for those with preexisting conditions is 
through the Judiciary. Judges are making decisions right now on voting 
rights, on civil rights, on women's rights, LGBT rights, on healthcare, 
on sentencing, and on corporate power--decisions that could limit those 
rights for a generation.
  We know that the Federal Judiciary already puts its thumb on the 
scales of justice to support corporations over workers, to support Wall 
Street over consumers, and to support insurance companies over 
patients. We know that the Federal Judiciary and the Supreme Court have 
done that dozens of times. We know that the Federal Judiciary, 
increasingly, is looking like a group of far-right, young, detached 
people who never go out and get their public opinion pass, as Lincoln 
said. They never consider what the public wants in this country.
  Chad Readler, the nominee whom we will vote on in a moment, took it 
upon himself as a Jones Day lawyer--one of the greatest law firms in 
the country, headquartered in Cleveland--to write an op-ed as a private 
citizen saying we should allow the execution of 16-year-olds. He 
actually wasn't that specific. He implied it could be even younger than 
that. He said we would allow the execution of teenagers. At a time when 
this body--something we should be proud of--took important bipartisan 
steps forward on sentencing reform that was supported by the White 
House, supported by a lot of Republicans, and supported by virtually 
all Democrats, how do we turn around and put someone on the bench for 
life who supports executing children? How does that compute? How we can 
do that?
  He argued on behalf of the far-right think tank for the elimination 
of ``Golden Week'' in Ohio, a period where people can vote early. They 
can register and vote early. It was passed by a Republican legislature. 
It has bipartisan support, but not by this rightwing nominee who thinks 
it is OK to eliminate people's right to vote and restrict it. He 
defended restrictive voter ID. He defended the squeezing of provisional 
ballot laws.
  On the eve of the 54th anniversary tomorrow of Bloody Sunday in 
Selma, AL, it is shameful to put on the bench another judge who will 
rubberstamp modern-day literacy tests and poll taxes. Fundamentally, it 
is the same purpose. You find ways to suppress the vote. You find ways 
to take people's voting rights away. You find ways to disqualify people 
who want to vote.
  Chad Readler's record on healthcare is clear. He has been a 
ringleader in the Republican effort to take away the protections on 
preexisting conditions for all Americans. He wrote the White House's 
brief. We all know that now. He wrote a brief that nobody else above 
him at the Justice Department was willing to do. Three people refused 
to write it. One actually resigned. The next day, he was rewarded by 
this lifetime appointment as a Sixth Circuit Federal judge. Remember 
that. The White House rewarded him after suggesting that we block the 
consumer protections for preexisting conditions for millions of 
Americans and for hundreds of thousands in Virginia, Arkansas, and in 
Ohio. Millions of Americans would lose their consumer protections under 
his views, and the next day the White House decided to reward him with 
a judgeship.
  As I said, three career attorneys withdrew from the case. One 
resigned altogether in objection to doing this. Senator Alexander, our 
friend from Tennessee, who sits near where Senator Kaine is sitting, 
said this was just amazingly awful language that Chad Readler had 
suggested.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for an 
additional 2 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, judges are deciding the future of America's 
healthcare right now, the right to vote right now, civil rights right 
now, LGBTQ rights right now, women's rights right now. Judges around 
the country are deciding that. We can't afford to put another out-of-
the-mainstream judge on the court--and he is clearly out of the 
mainstream among Ohio lawyers, among Ohio judges, among Ohio citizens--
who will not defend America's right to healthcare.
  I ask my colleagues to think about the families you promised to vote 
for. If any of you in your campaigns, if any of you in discussions you 
have had with your constituents, if any of you in your public 
statements, and if any of you running for office committed that you 
would support consumer protections for preexisting conditions, the only 
way you can prove you actually believe that is by voting no on Chad 
Readler in about 1 minute from now. If you really believe in preserving 
preexisting condition consumer protections so you don't see in your 
State--in Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, and Ohio--millions of 
Americans lose their insurance, then your only way to support what you 
promise is to vote no on Chad Readler.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Blackburn). Under the previous order, all 
postcloture time is expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Readler 
nomination?
  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. 
Manchin) is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 52, nays 47, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 37 Ex.]

                                YEAS--52

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--47

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray

[[Page S1698]]


     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Manchin
       
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

                          ____________________