[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 113 (Thursday, June 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3075-S3076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Justin Reed Walker

  Madam President, of course, while Democrats are glad that Leader 
McConnell felt the pressure and heeded our call to put policing reform 
on the floor next week, it will not be before the Republican leader 
asks us to confirm two more hard rightwing judges to the Federal bench.
  Today, the Senate will vote on Justin Walker, a 38-year-old with less 
than a

[[Page S3076]]

year's worth of experience as a district court judge, to sit on the 
second highest court in the country for the rest of his life. The 
temerity of doing that--he was on the court for just a few months, but 
he is friends with Leader McConnell, so he gets rushed to this very 
high court without the necessary experience and maturity of judgment.
  The Republican Senate approved his nomination to the district court 
on October 24 last year, after the ABA rated him ``not qualified.'' 
Now, 8 months later, Leader McConnell wants to give Justin Walker, a 
former intern of his, a promotion to the DC Circuit.
  Even in his extremely limited time as a jurist, Walker made news by 
calling the Supreme Court's decision to uphold our healthcare law 
``catastrophic'' and ``an indefensible decision.''
  I would like Leader McConnell to go home to Kentucky and tell the 
citizens of Kentucky why he nominated someone who wants to repeal our 
healthcare law when the COVID crisis is hurting people there as it is 
everywhere else. In the middle of a national healthcare crisis, the 
Republican Senate majority is poised to confirm a judge who opposes our 
country's healthcare law.
  There is no reason to do this nomination now. There is no stunning 
number of vacancies on the DC Circuit. We are in the middle of a global 
pandemic and a national conversation about racial justice and police 
reform. This is about the Republican leader and his relentless pursuit 
of a rightwing judiciary.
  Usually my friends on the other side of the aisle vote in lockstep on 
these judges, so it is an indication of Mr. Walker's caliber, or lack 
thereof, that at least one Senate Republican has announced opposition 
to his nomination.
  After Mr. Walker--again, before we move to policing reform--Leader 
McConnell will put forward the nomination of Mr. Cory Wilson to the 
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
  Even by the very low standards of Trump's nominees to the Federal 
bench, Mr. Wilson is appalling. He called our Nation's healthcare law 
``illegitimate'' and ``perverse'' and advocated the repeal of Roe v. 
Wade. Worse still, Mr. Wilson strongly supported restrictive voting 
measures, including voter ID laws and is opposed, in this day and age, 
to minority voting rights.
  There will be a massive split screen in the Senate next week. As we 
prepare to debate legislation to reduce racial bias and discrimination 
in law enforcement, Senate Republicans will push a judge who has a 
history of fighting against minority voting rights. The hypocrisy is 
glaring. It is amazing to me--the temerity sometimes that the majority 
leader shows in talking about trying to bring racial justice and 
putting on the bench someone who has fought against racial justice in 
terms of voting rights throughout his career. Again, the hypocrisy is 
glaring.