[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 73 (Tuesday, May 3, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2254]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           U.S. Supreme Court

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for years, the radical left has 
attacked the institution of the Supreme Court. Last night, it appears 
their campaign hit a new low.
  Historically, the Justices, clerks, and staff have prized and 
protected the Court's confidentiality. The Justices must be able to 
discuss and deliberate in an environment of total trust and privacy. 
Americans cannot receive a fair trial if politicians, pundits, bullies, 
and mobs get a say in court. Judicial independence is vital, but the 
far left has spent years shamelessly attacking it. Democrats in 
Congress have endorsed plans for partisan Court packing. They have sent 
the Justices threatening legal briefs. They have scheduled sham 
hearings to smear judges.
  In 2020, the Senate Democratic leader marched across the street to 
the Court and shouted threats--threats--at multiple Justices by name if 
they didn't rule how he wanted.
  In 2018, activists literally chased Senators around the Capitol.
  Now, last night, a shocking--shocking--new breach: Somebody--likely 
somebody inside the Court itself--leaked a confidential internal draft 
to the press, almost certainly in an effort to stir up an inappropriate 
pressure campaign to sway an outcome.
  The radical left immediately rallied around the toxic stunt. The 
cheerleaders for partisan Court packing applauded what they suggested 
was the work of ``a brave clerk'' making ``a last-ditch Hail Mary 
attempt'' to cause a political firestorm and ``cause the Court to 
reconsider.''
  Liberals want to rip the blindfold off Lady Justice. They want to 
override impartiality with intimidation. They want to elevate mob rule 
over the rule of law. The same political movement that used a leak to 
move up the timeline of Justice Breyer's retirement process is trying 
to use yet another leak to make the Court less secure and less 
impartial.
  Never before--never before--in modern history has an internal draft 
been leaked to the public while the Justices were still deciding the 
case. Never before.
  Whoever committed this lawless act knew exactly what it could bring 
about. The Justices already require security. Less than 2 weeks ago, an 
unbalanced person lit himself on fire on the Court steps. Less than 3 
years ago, a liberal mob tried to storm the Court, shoving past law 
enforcement and pounding on the doors.
  Look, everybody knows what kind of climate the far left is trying to 
fuel: one that is antithetical--antithetical--to the rule of law. Right 
on cue, top Democrats began publishing wild statements about what the 
Court might decide, packed with using unhinged rhetoric that could 
easily incite, light a match.
  So what else happened? Activists flocked to the Court. An angry crowd 
surrounded the Court, chanting Justices' names--their renewed call to 
smash the institutions of both the Senate and the Court at the same 
time. One of the Court's most essential and sacred features was smashed 
just to buy the outraged industrial complex a few extra days to scream 
nonsense about what the Court might rule.
  This lawless action should be investigated and punished to the 
fullest extent possible--fullest extent possible. I am certain the 
Chief Justice will seek to get to the bottom of this. If a crime was 
committed, the Department of Justice must pursue it completely.
  So, listen, I want all nine Justices to know there are still 
principled Senators who have their backs no matter what. There are 
still some people in this Capitol--and a majority in the Senate--whose 
support for the rule of law is not conditional, not conditional. The 
Court should tune out the bad-faith noise and feel completely free to 
do their jobs. They should follow the facts and the law wherever that 
leads.
  As I have warned in the past, courts bowing to activist pressure 
would never enhance judicial legitimacy. It could only erode it. And 
the hostage takers would never settle for half a loaf.