[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 178 (Thursday, November 7, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6455-S6456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Steven J. Menashi

  Mr. President, finally, on Mr. Menashi, in a few minutes--maybe as of 
now--the Judiciary Committee will be holding a vote on a nominee who is 
dangerously unfit to serve on the U.S. Second Circuit Court of 
Appeals--Mr.

[[Page S6456]]

Steven Menashi of New York. His nomination should not be allowed to 
continue.
  Mr. Menashi has a very troubling record on race, women's equality, 
LGBTG rights, and the rights of immigrants. His conduct before the 
Judiciary Committee was insulting, his contempt for the Senate 
reprehensible, and his refusal to be forthcoming about his record is 
outright disqualifying.
  But if members of the committee needed any more evidence to vote 
against Menashi's nomination, they should read this morning's New York 
Times. The headline reads ``Appeals Court Nominee Shaped DeVos's 
Illegal Loan Forgiveness Effort.'' The Times reports that during Mr. 
Menashi's tenure working with Secretary DeVos at the Department of 
Education, he played a leading role in designing an illegal effort to 
deny debt relief to thousands of students swindled by for-profit 
colleges.
  Let me repeat. Mr. Menashi concocted a plan to illegally use the 
private Social Security data of defrauded student borrowers to deny 
them debt forgiveness after they were preyed upon by for-profit 
schools. A Federal judge ruled that these efforts violated privacy 
laws.
  This is someone the President wants us to make an appellate court 
judge? A judge is supposed to uphold the law, interpret the law, and 
have a reverence for the law, not someone who schemes to break the law, 
as Mr. Menashi did.
  Mr. Menashi's nomination is an embarrassment to this country. It is 
an insult to millions of hard-working young Americans saddled with 
student debt. It is an insult to women and LGBTQ Americans, to African 
Americans and immigrants, and to everyone who believes in the rule of 
law.
  If anyone has not earned the privilege of a lifetime appointment to 
the bench, it is Mr. Menashi. I urge every Member of the Judiciary 
Committee to vote against his nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.