[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 165 (Wednesday, September 23, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5797-S5798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SUPREME COURT NOMINATION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, first, let me thank all of my 
colleagues who were here until late last night and made such persuasive 
arguments as to why the new Supreme Court Justice matters so much to 
the American people, to their healthcare, the working people's rights, 
to women's rights, to preserving the right to choose, to making sure we 
have a good green planet, to LGBTQ rights. They did an eloquent job.
  I hope America was listening because this nomination matters; it 
matters to the average daily lives of average Americans. And last 
night, by holding the floor until the late hours, Democrats made really 
strong arguments.
  I thank my colleagues for doing that.
  Madam President, for the third day in a row, Leader McConnell has 
come to the floor and completely ignored the ``principle'' he 
established in 2016, when, mere hours after Justice Scalia passed away, 
Leader McConnell said that ``the American people should have a voice in 
the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice''--his words: ``The 
American people should have a voice in the selection of their next 
Supreme Court Justice,'' referring to the upcoming election.
  That election was more than 8 months away. We are now only 42 days 
away. But the so-called McConnell rule--the supposed principle that the 
American people deserve a voice in the selection of a Supreme Court 
Justice--hasn't come up. The Republican leader can't mention it. No 
wonder he never mentions it. And he sticks to just diversionary, 
irrelevant remarks in his speeches on the floor instead of addressing 
the main issue--why he said one thing in 2016 and a different thing 
now.
  Instead, the Senate is forced to suffer these tortured explanations 
and misleading precedents. At a press conference yesterday, here is how 
the Republican leader described the Senate role in confirming the 
Supreme Court Justices. He actually said: ``[W]e have an obligation 
under the Constitution [to consider a Supreme Court Justice] . . . 
should we choose to take advantage of it.''
  Did you catch that? Did you catch that? It is an obligation, but only 
if the Republican leader chooses to take advantage of it. I see. So, 
when there is a Democratic President, it is one of those obligations 
you don't have to take advantage of, but when there is a Republican 
President, it is a solemn constitutional duty.
  Are we really supposed to swallow the argument that, when the Senate 
and the President are of the opposite party, one rule applies, but when 
they are of the same party, a different rule applies? I didn't hear 
that right after Scalia died when Leader McConnell explained why he was 
holding it up.
  So this idea that when it is one party, one rule applies and another 
party, a different rule applies, we have a term for that. It is called 
a double standard.
  If the leader really wants to discuss precedent--real precedent, not 
fiction--we can dispatch with that conversation in about 30 seconds
  Madam President, I have a parliamentary inquiry for the Chair: Is 
there a Senate precedent for confirming a Supreme Court nominee between 
July and election day in a Presidential year?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Materials from the offices of the Secretary of 
the Senate do not show such a precedent.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Madam President.
  July is long gone. August is over. We are now at the end of 
September. As you just heard--not from the Democratic leader but from 
the records in the Senate, as spoken by the Chair, there is no, no, no 
precedent for confirming a Supreme Court Justice between July and 
election day. The Republican leader can come up with arguments that 
twist things, that jump through hoops, but it doesn't gainsay no, no, 
no precedent for any Supreme Court nominee being confirmed between July 
and election day. As you know, July is gone. August is over. We are now 
at the end of September. It is 6 weeks before an election in which some 
people have already begun to vote.
  Simply, my Republican friends have no ground on which to stand--none.
  There is no logic to excuse flipping their position 4 years apart, 
under the same circumstances. There is no justification for the 
Senators who said on the record that they would ``say the same thing if 
a Republican president were in office''--``say the same thing if a 
Republican president were in office'' they said then, but it doesn't 
apply now that we have a Republican President in office. There is no 
defense for the Senator who said: ``Precedent set. Precedent set. I'm 
sure come 2020, you'll remind me of that.'' There is no place to hide 
for the Senator who said: ``You can say that I said, let the next 
president decide. Hold this tape. I want you to use my words against 
me.''
  Why are Senate Republicans going to such extreme lengths to ram 
through a Justice weeks before an election, making a complete mockery 
of their previous ``principle''? Why are they committing a power grab 
so egregious that it risks shredding the last vestiges of trust that 
remain between our two parties? For what? Because this is the only way 
for Republicans to achieve their radical, rightwing agenda--an agenda 
so far away from where average Americans think, even average 
Republicans, that they wouldn't dare bring such things on the floor of 
the Senate.
  Unable to thrust comically unpopular positions on the American people 
through Congress, they have to try through the courts--a cynical 
strategy that dates back to the 1950s.
  Republicans are sick and tired, for instance, of this annoying law, 
the Affordable Care Act, and that it keeps providing healthcare to 
millions of Americans. They tried to repeal it in the House just about 
a million times, and they tried here, too, in the Senate but failed by 
one vote. So now they have taken it to the courts.
  President Trump and Republican attorneys general are suing right now 
to eliminate the entire law, including protections for up to 130 
million Americans with preexisting conditions. In fact, President Trump 
is meeting with those Republican attorneys general at the White House 
today, this afternoon. Less than a week after Justice Ginsburg's 
passing, the President is meeting with the leaders of the Republican 
lawsuit against our healthcare law. Ostensibly, it is about how social 
media companies are biased against conservatives, but who wants to bet 
that the healthcare lawsuit doesn't come up? I would like for someone 
to ask them that.
  If he cared about healthcare and the American people, President Trump 
himself would ask the AGs to withdraw their lawsuit. I am calling on 
him to do it right now. I doubt he will, given his record, given his 
lack of concern for the American people's healthcare, but he should. 
But, unfortunately, let's remember, President Trump already told the 
American people his goal. He said: ``My judicial appointments will do 
the right thing, unlike Bush's appointee John Roberts, on ObamaCare.''
  He is about to make a Supreme Court pick while there is an ongoing 
lawsuit that seeks to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. Hear that, 
America? The healthcare law you want, the healthcare law you need, the 
healthcare law that protects you against overreaching insurance 
companies that will not give you insurance when you have a preexisting 
condition--President Trump has said he will appoint a nominee who will 
undo it, and we know he said it because of what he said about Justice 
Roberts when Justice Roberts opposed his view on healthcare.
  Guess when the case is being heard in the Supreme Court, America. 
November 10, a week after the election. Is that why Senate Republicans 
are in such a rush to get a new rightwing Justice confirmed before the 
election--so that the Supreme Court can do what they failed to do here 
in the Senate--repeal this healthcare law, which protects so many 
Americans?
  Leader McConnell slammed on the brakes while tens of thousands of 
Americans died from COVID, and now he is slamming his foot on the gas 
to approve a Supreme Court Justice who could rip away Americans' 
healthcare in the middle of a pandemic. Shame. Shame.

[[Page S5798]]

  For 4 months, the Republican majority delayed a COVID-relief package 
while the Nation suffered, but 1 hour--1 hour--after the news of 
Justice Ginsburg's passing broke, Leader McConnell said ``batten down 
hatches, we're full steam ahead'' on confirming another rightwing 
Justice--a Justice who could undo Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legacy; who 
could rip away healthcare from millions of American families; who could 
decide there is no more right to choose for millions of American 
women--Roe v. Wade hangs in the balance here; who could crush unions 
for millions of American workers; who could make it harder to vote for 
millions of African Americans; who could end marriage equality for 
millions of LGBTQ Americans, like my daughter and her wife, who looked 
at each other this weekend and wondered, is our marriage on the line?
  Average Americans are thinking, what are they going to lose with this 
new, hard-right, special interest-dominated Supreme Court if--if--our 
Republican friends have their wish, which we are going to fight every 
step of the way? The stakes of this election, the stakes of this 
vacancy concern no less than the future fundamental rights of the 
American people.
  My friends on the other side will tell you that we are being 
hysterical, that they actually support protections for Americans with 
preexisting conditions. That is hysterical? Ask the mother whose son or 
daughter has cancer and can't get insurance and watches their child 
suffer. That is not being hysterical; that is doing what we are 
supposed to do, not what the folks on the other side are doing--rushing 
through a Justice who, in a very strong likelihood if that Justice gets 
approved, would rip healthcare away from the American people.
  America, you have to ask yourselves, if Republicans will completely 
reverse themselves on a major principle whenever it suits them, what 
can you trust them on? How can you take their word seriously?
  Republicans have praised the legacy of Justice Ginsburg with flowery 
words about her impact, but in the resolution I offered yesterday, they 
even didn't want to acknowledge her dying wish that she not be replaced 
until the next President is installed.
  President Trump had the gall, the temerity, the baseness to suggest 
her dying words were not issued by her. How low can the President go?
  Senate Republicans are working with every fiber of their being to 
confirm a Justice--despite her last wish, in contradiction to her 
dying, most fervent wish--who will reverse her legacy. This is not 
speculation. This is not hyperbole. President Trump has said again and 
again and again that he wants the Supreme Court to ``terminate'' the 
healthcare law. He made it clear he has a litmus test: Any Trump 
nominee must want to strike down Roe v. Wade.
  For once, Republicans should be straight with the American people. 
They are fighting to reverse Justice Ginsburg's legacy, not honor it. 
All of their speeches of praise run totally hollow and are belied by 
their actions.
  America, you can't trust them at their word. You can't trust them to 
protect your healthcare, and you definitely can't trust this Senate 
Republican majority to protect you.

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