[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 166 (Thursday, September 24, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5843-S5844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, now on an entirely different matter, 
President Trump has stated he will announce his nominee to the Supreme 
Court the day after tomorrow. We do not yet know which legal all-star 
from his list he will nominate, but strangely enough, we already do 
know exactly what the far left will start shouting the instant--the 
instant--she or he is introduced.
  Isn't that a little curious, when you stop to think about it? A 
confirmation process is ostensibly about the qualifications and 
credentials of the nominee, so why is it that practically any citizen 
could sit down at their kitchen

[[Page S5844]]

table right now, days--days--before the nomination, and write down in 
advance the list of ludicrous accusations the far left has guaranteed 
to be screaming by Saturday night? It is because year after year, 
decade after decade, the far left's playbook stays exactly the same. To 
them, a nominee makes no difference. Every time in 45 years--45 years--
that a Republican President has nominated someone to the Supreme Court, 
the exact same set of cliched horror stories are wheeled out of 
storage, dusted off, and paraded past the American people.
  In 1975, President Gerald Ford put forward a nominee whom the left 
blasted for his ``consistent opposition to women's rights'' and ``an 
extraordinary lack of sensitivity to the problems women face.'' Who was 
this far-right ideologue who was going to turn back the clock? Why, it 
was the late Justice John Paul Stevens, who went on to lead the Court's 
liberal wing for decades.
  In 1987, it was time for an encore performance. A nominee from 
President Reagan was absolutely savaged by liberal groups. The 
president of one leftwing group insisted he was a ``sexist'' and ``a 
disaster for women''--that would be Anthony Kennedy.
  Once again, the sky did not fall. In fact, when Justice Kennedy 
retired in 2018, the new head of the exact same liberal organization 
stated they were ``saddened and alarmed by his retirement.'' The exact 
same liberal outfit said the sky was falling in the 1980s because 
Justice Kennedy had been nominated and that the sky was falling in 2018 
because he was retiring.
  In 1990, they got the band back together yet again. This time the sky 
was falling for sure. President Bush had picked someone whose record 
was ``very troubling,'' whose juris prudence would surely ``threaten to 
undo the advances made by women, minorities, dissenters, and other 
disadvantaged groups,'' whose confirmation would mean ``ending freedom 
for women in this country.''
  Talk about wearing out the volume knob. Oh, that was future Justice 
David Souter, by the way. One slogan simply said--listen to this: 
``Stop Souter or Women Will Die.'' ``Stop Souter or Women Will Die.'' 
He, too, would go on to become a favorite Justice of many of the very 
same groups.
  But it has still never occurred to them to get their crystal balls 
checked. The same unhinged attacks pour out every time, the same absurd 
scare tactics every single time.
  These people are the far-left version of that broadcaster who spent 
20 years predicting different dates for the end of the world, raising 
money, and just inventing a new date every time he was wrong.
  Justice Scalia was unfit. Justice Thomas hated the rule of law. 
Justice Alito was ``hostile to the rights of women.'' It is all one big 
scam directed at the American people.
  In 2005, one leftwing outfit cut a television ad that tried to link 
our now-Chief Justice of the United States with a violent bombing of an 
abortion clinic. Just how despicable can you get? Before this 
disgusting ad was pulled off the air, it said a future Justice John 
Roberts would ``excuse violence against other Americans.'' Chief 
Justice Roberts.
  Every single time--no matter how upstanding, no matter how qualified, 
no matter their views, no matter their record--every nominee gets the 
same insane treatment, so long as the President who nominated them is 
not a Democrat--so long as the President who nominated them is not a 
Democrat.
  Oh, but when Democrats nominate people, none of this happens. When we 
confirmed Justices Ginsburg and Breyer, I don't recall any angry mobs 
stalking Senators. When we confirmed Justice Sotomayor, I don't recall 
weeks of character assassination. When we confirmed Justice Kagan, I 
don't recall the mainstream media declaring the death of democracy.
  For half a century we have seen this double standard. When a 
Democratic President makes a nomination, it is a nonevent by 
comparison. The coastal political class and their friends in the media 
allow our national life to go on like normal. But whenever a Republican 
dares to nominate someone, the same people declare it a state of 
emergency.
  So, sadly, we already know what reaction we will see on Saturday: 
fill-in-the-blank opposition. Remember, in 2017, we saw literal fill-
in-the-blank opposition. Demonstrators wanted to assemble outside the 
Court before they even knew who President Trump would name, so they 
literally brought stacks of signs that said: ``Oppose (blank)!'' And 
they brought markers so they could scribble in the name during the 
President's remarks before the TV cameras got to them.
  In 2018, moments after the President announced now-Justice Kavanaugh, 
one leftwing group published a typically absurd statement declaring 
``Trump's announcement today is a death sentence''--``a death 
sentence''--and ``white patriarchal supremacists now have free reign.''
  The actual nominee was so irrelevant to their scam that they 
literally forgot to fill in the blank. The very first line of their 
press release condemned ``Donald Trump's nomination of XX to the 
Supreme Court.''
  So it is safe to say the American people can start writing their 
bingo cards right now. We already know every outlandish claim and 
unhinged attack we are going to hear.
  In fact, former Vice President Biden has already cut to the front of 
the line. Just yesterday, he offered the following assessment prior to 
learning whom he was assessing: ``Women's rights as it relates to 
everything from medical health care is going to be gone.'' This is 
former Vice President Biden yesterday. Good luck deciphering what he is 
trying to say. It sounds like more of the same old junk.
  Perhaps the Nation will soon watch this man in his late seventies 
condescend to explain women's healthcare to one of the brilliant women 
whom President Trump indicates he is considering.
  Fortunately, the far-left scam artists do not get a vote. The special 
interest groups' fundraising appeals do not get a vote. The fate of 
this nomination will be determined by the U.S. Senators whom the 
American people elected to do this job: a fair hearing, a fair process, 
and a fair vote on the actual nominee. Forget about fill-in-the-blank.

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