[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 74 (Tuesday, May 2, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1446-S1447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           U.S. SUPREME COURT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today, Democrats on the Judiciary 
Committee are holding a hearing that is ostensibly about Supreme Court 
ethics reform. Really, it is just another chapter in Washington 
Democrats' three-decade-long campaign to undermine the Federal 
Judiciary at any cost.
  There were the absurd smear campaigns aimed at jurists like Robert 
Bork and Janice Rogers Brown. There were the uncorroborated accusations 
held back with last-minute surprises against the nominations of Justice 
Thomas and Justice Kavanaugh. There was the silly attempt at a boycott 
by Democrats on the committee who didn't want to engage with Justice 
Barrett.
  Washington Democrats apparently find a textualist Court that upholds 
our written Constitution to be a mighty unappealing proposition. They 
made that clear for 30-plus years.
  And in the last few years, the hostility has reached reckless new 
highs: a sitting Senator stirring up crowds from the steps of the 
Court, naming Justices who would pay the price; unhinged activists 
marching on Justices' family homes; publishing the locations of their 
children's schools; and fueling a frenzy that had one unstable person 
literally--literally--plotting to assassinate a member of the Court; 
and Attorney General Garland simply refusing to enforce clear Federal 
law and stop illegal mob protests at judges' homes.
  Now we have the next raft of silly personal attacks. This time, the 
left and some of their media allies want the American people to gasp in 
horror--in horror--that one Supreme Court Justice vacations with his 
friends, that another one sold his house when he moved, and that Chief 
Justice Roberts' wife has a career outside the home.
  The Democrats even tried to pressure Chief Justice Roberts to trade 
the Supreme Court for their kangaroo court and show up in person today 
to hear them grandstand, a totally inappropriate request, as the 
Chief's polite and fact-based reply made clear.
  For goodness' sake, we now have Senate Democrats openly threatening 
to defund the Court's budget by the exact amount they need for security 
to protect the Justices and their families if the Justices don't 
reorganize internal affairs the way some Democrats want.
  Every 5 minutes, the Democratic Party wants to give lectures about 
upholding our institutions and protecting democracy. But just as often, 
they find a way to undertake a reckless attack against the courts and 
the rule of law.
  So look, I am proud of how our Nation's highest Court has weathered 
these latest baseless attempts to attack its authority. I believe in 
the integrity and honesty of all nine Justices--all nine of them. They 
should pay the partisan grandstanding no mind at all.

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