[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 18, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2553-S2554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Crime

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Americans' concern about violent crime 
is the highest it has been in 6 years, and the statistics plainly show 
why that is. Between 2019 and 2020, the murder rate shot up by the 
largest 
1-year increase in over a century, and the rate has kept on rising.
  Nearly 60 percent more law enforcement officers were killed in 2021 
compared to 2020. Cities all across America set alltime record highs 
for homicides last year. My hometown of Louisville, KY, was one of 
those cities. We also now average more than one carjacking every 48 
hours.
  Innocent citizens across America know this situation has literally 
spiraled out of control, but, unfortunately, the Biden administration 
and Senate Democrats continue to team up and find new ways to go soft 
on crime. The nomination and confirmation of Judge Jackson to the 
Supreme Court crowns a deliberate effort by Democrats to make the 
Federal judiciary literally softer on crime. They are specifically 
intentionally stuffing the Federal bench full of men and women whose 
starting perspective tilts toward sympathy for criminals rather than 
victims.
  Even the New York Times had to admit this ``concerted push by the 
Biden administration'' to prefer nominees with ``experience in criminal 
defense work'' is ``a sea change in the world of judicial 
nominations.''
  The Times continued:

       The type of high-profile murder cases handled by some of 
     Mr. Biden's nominees would have been considered disqualifying 
     only a few years ago; now the president, who himself served 
     briefly as a public defender early in his legal career, is 
     actively seeking to name more jurists who have [that kind of] 
     experience.

  So, Mr. President, we are not arguing that public defenders ought to 
be excluded from the nomination process. Clearly, their work is 
important. Everyone deserves a lawyer, even the most heinous criminals. 
But the American people are not exactly clamoring for President Biden 
to dramatically tilt the entire judiciary toward the criminal-friendly 
perspective--least of all during this historic crime surge.
  This week, with a long list of serious problems facing the country, 
the Democratic majority has decided to spend floor time on another 
judicial nominee with this one particular background, a second nominee 
who appeared during her committee hearing to be unfamiliar with a basic 
concept in trial law, and a third nominee whose

[[Page S2554]]

pro bono record includes helping sue the New York City government over 
policing and trying to reverse another person's robbery conviction. So 
I would urge Senators to oppose these controversial nominees.
  I am proud to be one of many Republicans joining a new resolution 
from Senator Cassidy begging this all-Democratic government to 
prioritize solutions for the violent crime wave. To start, the 
administration should stop this willful--willful--campaign to make the 
judiciary systemically softer on crime. Innocent Americans can't afford 
it.