[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 178 (Thursday, November 7, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Judicial Nominations

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am here to once again shine a spotlight 
on Senate Republicans' unwavering support for President Trump's efforts 
to remake the Federal judiciary and to make clear how this is going to 
hurt families, women, and communities in Washington State and across 
our Nation.
  I have come here before to call out Senate Republicans for 
rubberstamping this President's judicial nominees--many of whom have no 
business sitting on the Federal bench--and for gutting precedent and 
norms to allow this President to jam-pack our courts with his hard-
right, ideological picks from Neil Gorsuch to Brett Kavanaugh and down 
the line.
  In fact, earlier this week, the majority leader pointed out how 
Senate Republicans have cleared the way on the floor for the Senate to 
take up even more Trump judges by poisoning the appropriations process 
and generally turning the Senate into a legislative graveyard. Led by 
the majority leader, Senate Republicans have ignored the standards we 
have held for decades when considering judicial nominees and opened the 
door to people who lack even the most basic qualifications to sit on 
the Federal bench.
  For starters, today the Senate is slated to take up the nomination of 
Lee Rudofsky for Arkansas' Eastern District. Mr. Rudofsky has a long 
history in Arkansas of working to deny women access to reproductive 
healthcare. He defended Arkansas' law that would ban abortion at 12 
weeks as an ``ideal vehicle'' for the Supreme Court to ``reevaluate'' 
and ``overturn'' Roe v. Wade. On top of that, Mr. Rudofsky has also 
previously argued in favor of efforts to cut off Medicaid funding to 
Planned Parenthood. He defended a State law that could have resulted in 
the closure of every reproductive healthcare clinic that provides 
abortions in the State, and he has worked against hard-fought progress 
for equality for LGBTQIA people.
  Does that sound like a judge who is going to protect the rights of 
women and others and who will put aside his own partisan notions to 
ensure equal protection under our laws for everyone? It does not.
  Take Sarah Pitlyk, whom President Trump has nominated to a district 
court in Missouri. Missouri is reeling from this administration's 
repeated attacks on women's healthcare and reproductive health where 
there is currently only one clinic in the entire State that can perform 
abortions. Ms. Pitlyk has worked throughout her career to limit access 
to a wide array of reproductive healthcare services, not just 
abortions. She has expressed opposition to surrogacy, in vitro 
fertilization, and even the use of contraception. To be more explicit, 
she called birth control ``evil'' and a ``grave moral wrong''--birth 
control. It is the 21st century, and no matter what the extreme anti-
abortion men in the White House want us to believe, birth control is 
healthcare, full stop. We cannot have judges on the bench who are so 
ideologically driven as to think women are morally wrong for using it.
  Even beyond her rigid ideology, Ms. Pitlyk is also woefully unfit on 
the merits to become a Federal judge. In fact, the American Bar 
Association unanimously determined that Ms. Pitlyk is ``not 
qualified,'' writing that Ms. Pitlyk ``has never tried a case as a lead 
or co-counsel'' and ``has never examined a witness.''
  Does that sound like someone who will uphold the rule of law justly 
and apply the laws of our land fairly--someone rated as ``objectively 
unqualified'' and who has demonstrated no commitment to protecting 
individuals' fundamental rights? Again, unfortunately, the answer is 
no.
  Then there is Steven Menashi, whom President Trump has nominated to 
the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. We know Mr. Menashi has a deeply 
disturbing history of disparaging comments against women, against 
communities of color, against immigrants, and the LGBTQIA community. As 
if his extreme views aren't bad enough, we know that in his role in the 
Office of the General Counsel at the Department of Education, Mr. 
Menashi also worked on Secretary DeVos's cruel rollback of title IX 
protections for survivors of sexual assault and protections for 
students regardless of sex. Under his tenure, Secretary DeVos has moved 
us toward a dangerous system of unaccountability and secrecy where 
LGBTQIA students could be subject to cruel discrimination at school.
  Additionally, I am incredibly concerned about Mr. Menashi's confirmed 
role in being one of the architects of Secretary DeVos's efforts to 
violate the law by undermining protections for student borrowers who 
were cheated by predatory for-profit colleges--students whose rights 
are, at this moment, being undercut by people in our Federal 
Government, such as Mr. Menashi, who should be doing just the opposite.
  People deserve to trust that the women and men who serve as our 
Federal judges will ensure equal protection for all and apply the law 
fairly and without bias.
  I ask again: Considering Mr. Menashi's troubling record of 
undermining critical rights and questions surrounding his involvement 
in Secretary DeVos's shameful efforts to ignore the law, does he sound 
like someone who deserves a lifetime appointment to our Federal bench, 
someone who will uphold our rule of law?
  Confirming judges to our Federal courts is one of our most important 
duties as Senators. It is one that I take very seriously. I am deeply 
disturbed by the harm these individuals, if confirmed, may inflict upon 
women, on families, and some of the most vulnerable members of our 
communities.
  Let me be clear about these nominations. Nothing less is at stake 
than the integrity of our judicial system and the future of our 
democracy. We have to maintain the high bar we set for Federal judges, 
and these judges I have mentioned are just three examples of how far we 
have fallen.
  It is not too late. I know my Republican colleagues know what a farce 
this process has become and how supremely unqualified these nominees 
are. I know they are aware of the irreparable harm people like these 
will have on the credibility of our judicial system. That is why we 
have to stop this parade of unqualified, ideologically rigid nominees 
to our Federal judiciary. When it comes to our courts, nothing is more 
important than ensuring we are sustaining a system that people can 
trust--one that upholds our laws, one that seeks justice without bias 
or favor or agenda.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in rejecting Mr. Rudofsky's 
nomination, as well as the nominations of Ms. Pitlyk and Mr. Menashi 
and any nominee offered by President Trump who does not meet our high 
standards, and in returning to a thoughtful, rigorous, bipartisan 
process of selecting only the most qualified judges to a lifetime 
appointment on our Federal courts.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.