[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 191 (Monday, November 1, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7528-S7529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Nomination of Beth Robinson
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the Senate today is going to vote on the
confirmation of Vermont's own Justice Beth Robinson, a vote to confirm
her to serve as a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
As an advocate, Beth Robinson has been rightfully hailed as a
tireless champion for equal rights and equal justice, but more
importantly, her record as a Vermont Supreme Court justice clearly
demonstrates her fairness, her impartiality, and loyalty to the rule of
law above all else.
We Vermonters overwhelmingly support her nomination, including
elected officials--both Republicans and Democrats--the entire Vermont
Supreme Court, and the Vermont Bar Association; they overwhelmingly
support her.
Justice Robinson will fill Vermont's seat on the Second Circuit, and
I believe she is the best, strongest candidate for this position. She
deserves bipartisan support in this Senate, as she got last week on a
vote.
Beth Robinson was appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court by Governor
Peter Shumlin in November 2011. To give you some idea of the bipartisan
support she has had over the years, the Vermont Senate, Republicans and
Democrats, have to vote on her nomination, and they voted unanimously
to have her on the Vermont Supreme Court.
All current Vermont Supreme Court justices, appointed by both
Democratic and Republican Governors, have signed a letter supporting
her nomination to the Second Circuit. For the past decade, she has
served on the court honorably. She has also participated in nearly
1,800 decisions.
Now, I am a member of the Vermont bar, and I pay attention to what
happens, and I see her tenure as being a display of a commitment to the
rule of law. Her unwavering, decade-long dedication as a jurist and her
loyalty to the law above all else has made Beth Robinson an outstanding
Vermont Supreme Court justice. No Vermonter doubts she will carry that
approach to justice with her in the Second Circuit.
Let me talk a little bit about before she was on the bench. Prior to
the time on the bench, Justice Robinson dedicated her legal career to
pursuing liberty and justice for all. She spent the beginning of her
legal career defending workers' rights and advancing discrimination
cases. It was during this time that she worked pro bono as cocounsel to
the plaintiffs in the case Baker v. State that challenged Vermont's
then-protection on same-sex marriage.
She successfully litigated this landmark decision in which the
Vermont Supreme Court upheld equal protections for same-sex couples and
actually led Vermont to become the first State in the Union to enact
civil unions in the country.
As a litigator, her work served as a blueprint for LGBTQ advocacy
across the country. She successfully represented an employee at the
University of Vermont, who sought recognition of his Canadian marriage
to a same-sex partner for health insurance purposes; another, a couple
seeking recognition of their out-of-State marriage in the context of
second-parent adoption; and
[[Page S7529]]
a same-sex partner seeking Social Security survivor benefits for her
child after her civil union partner died.
In every case, she fought to secure legal protections and equality
under the law. In fact, Beth changed the trajectory of LGBTQ rights in
this country. Her tireless work has led our Nation toward justice.
Unfortunately, in what is becoming more and more of a toxic
atmosphere, Justice Robinson's path to confirmation has faced baseless
attacks. At her confirmation hearing, Justice Robinson's commitment to
religious liberty was called into question. Now, these attacks are
simply not grounded in reality. Any honest reading of her record proves
that Justice Robinson is committed to protecting religious liberty.
Some members argued that Robinson's work representing a Catholic woman
who believed she had been discriminated against due to her own
religious beliefs was, astonishingly, evidence of Robinson's hostility
toward religious liberty.
At Justice Robinson's hearing, other members of the Judiciary
Committee quoted her out of context in what I saw as an attempt to
support a false narrative. One member of the committee read part of a
sentence from a marriage law symposium that Justice Robinson
participated in and suggested that it was proof of her hostility toward
religious liberty.
I said ``read part of'' it, but the attack line falls apart the
moment you bother to read the full sentence. In the full quote, Justice
Robinson states:
I've always said that if somebody tried to force the
Catholic Church to do a gay wedding, I would represent the
Church pro bono.
You can't construe that as hostility to religious freedom.
Justice Robinson has a long record of supporting the fundamental
right to religious liberty, both as a judge and as an advocate.
The Vermonters I have heard from--regardless of party or ideology,
regardless of their religion--are delighted that President Biden
nominated Beth Robinson to fill the Vermont seat on the Second Circuit.
Our leading Republicans, our leading Democrats agree with that.
If confirmed, she knows she will become the first openly gay woman to
serve on a Federal circuit court of appeals.
I would urge all Senators to evaluate Justice Robinson's record. And
I hope that Senators of both parties will see, as I have, that she
possesses exactly the right qualities, skills, and experience to excel
as a judge on the Second Circuit.
Before I was in the Senate, I had the privilege to argue cases before
the Second Circuit. I saw it as a court where you never thought of
whether they were Republicans or Democrats; you thought about their
abilities, and I always felt comfortable arguing there. Justice
Robinson, when she becomes Judge Robinson, will give that same view to
anybody who is a litigant before that court.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.