[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2254-S2255]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Justin Walker

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the Senate is here, open for business. 
The janitors and food service workers, police officers, and all the 
staff who operate the floor are here. They are all here. Capitol Police 
are doing their usual excellent job.
  The Republican leader called us back despite the obvious health 
risks, but we are ready to do the business our country demands. So 
there is a question that looms: Why isn't the Senate focused on 
responding to the COVID-19 pandemic? There hasn't been a single vote 
here on the Senate floor related to coronavirus--not even a nominee 
related to coronavirus.
  Rather than focusing on COVID-19 with laser-like intensity, the 
Senate Judiciary Committee today will waste precious time on the 
nomination of Leader McConnell's protegee, Justin Walker, to serve on 
the DC Court of Appeals, the second most powerful court in the country.
  Mr. Walker is a 37-year-old Federalist Society disciple who has more 
experience as a cable news commentator than he does trying cases in 
court. Mr. Walker's qualifications pale in comparison to those of 
previous nominees to the DC Circuit--Democrat and Republican. Nominees 
by Democratic Presidents and Republican Presidents all were deeply 
steeped in the law--just about every one--and here we have this?
  What Leader McConnell is doing to the courts is nothing short of 
disgraceful. The judges currently sitting on the second highest court 
in the land had decades of experience in Supreme Court advocacy, 
appellate work, criminal law, private practice, academia, and so on, 
prior to their nominations. Mr. Walker has been a district court judge 
for less than a year--less than a year. He had no trial experience 
prior to that.
  Inexperience aside, bad enough as that is, Walker's views are way out 
of the mainstream. In 2018, he described Chief Justice Roberts' opinion 
upholding our healthcare law as ``indefensible'' and ``catastrophic.'' 
Meanwhile, he praised a dissenting opinion by then-Judge Kavanaugh as a 
``roadmap for the Supreme Court'' to invalidate it.
  Every Republican who votes for this nominee, Mr. Walker, will be 
voting to dismantle the ACA and take millions of people's healthcare 
away from them if his statements prove to be how he judges things, 
which seems very likely given previous experience of other nominees 
like this.

[[Page S2255]]

  This week, legal briefs are due in the Supreme Court case that will 
determine the future of our healthcare law. In the midst of a global 
pandemic, at a time when our healthcare system has never been more 
important, Senate Republicans are preparing to jam through a judge who 
believes it should all be crashing down. Tens of millions of people 
would lose their health insurance, and protections for Americans with 
preexisting conditions would be eliminated.
  Mr. Walker's nomination would be controversial in normal times, to 
say the least--less experience in the court than on TV. During this 
public health crisis, his nomination is nothing short of a disgrace. 
The Senate should be focused on helping the country--hospitals and 
doctors, nurses and healthcare workers, essential employees and small 
businesses and families suffering from huge financial hardship.
  There are millions of newly unemployed Americans, but the only jobs 
issue the Republican majority seems to be focused on this week is the 
jobs of rightwing judges who wish to dismantle healthcare at a time 
when healthcare is needed more than ever. Let me say that again. There 
are millions of newly unemployed Americans, but in the Senate, the 
Republican majority is spending time giving jobs to rightwing judges.
  Now, let's get back to what matters. Democrats are focused on helping 
workers, small businesses, and American families. In times of crisis 
and economic hardship, these average Americans, working people--they 
take it on the chin. That is where our focus needs to be--not on legal 
immunity for big corporations, not on big oil or gas companies, not on 
juicing the markets. The focus should be on average folks. That is who 
all of us in Congress should be focused on helping right now