[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 187 (Monday, November 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5473-S5474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           U.S. Supreme Court

  Madam President, every year I visit all 95 counties in Tennessee; and 
while the expectations of local leaders vary from urban to suburban to 
rural areas, two things remain constant. They expect lawmakers to act 
in the best interests of the American people and act in good faith.
  Last Thursday, Chairman Durbin and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary 
Committee seemed to fail those tests, according to Tennesseans, because 
when they convened the hearing, they wanted to authorize subpoenas for 
Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo, and Robert Arkley.
  Now, the claim was: This is all about transparency. But the only 
thing that they are willing to be transparent about is the contempt for 
the Supreme Court and for the American people who still believe in the 
importance of the U.S. Supreme Court.
  Now, if they cared about protecting the Supreme Court, they would 
have shown more concern about the death threats against the 
conservative Justices that were coming from the far-left wing of the 
Democratic party.
  There is no good faith to be found here. This is yet another 
political assault against conservative Justices who issue decisions 
that many of the Democrats do not like--and we have seen it before.
  So they take this approach: If you can't pack the Court, rewrite the 
ethics rules; if you can't rewrite the ethics rules, just use the 
Senate to launch a mass prosecution of your political rivals.
  In an effort to force my colleagues to show the American people where 
Democrats truly stand on protecting the country's best interests, I 
proposed

[[Page S5474]]

a few amendments of my own to that subpoena authorization. Well, those 
amendments proved to be a little bit too politically inconvenient for 
the Chairman. So here are the amendments that I proposed and things 
Tennesseans have wanted answers to.
  Now, this summer, we learned that Justice Sotomayor's staff had been 
pressuring the public institutions that host her speaking engagements 
to buy her books. She got a $3 million book advance--not reported. She 
has made $4 million on the sale of the books.
  We also know she has refused to recuse herself in not one but two 
copyright infringement cases that involve the publisher of her book. So 
I filed an amendment issuing subpoenas to her staff and her publisher 
so we can get to the bottom of this ethical conundrum.
  I also proposed we subpoena Jeffrey Epstein's estate to provide the 
flight logs for his private planes. Given the numerous allegations of 
human trafficking and sexual abuse surrounding the late Mr. Epstein, I 
believe the committee has an interest in identifying everyone 
complicit, no matter their political affiliation.
  And we also need to get to the bottom of the investigation into Elon 
Musk. We know that the Biden administration gets nervous at the thought 
of conservatives speaking freely online. So, it is no surprise they are 
trying to weaponize multiple Federal Agencies against Mr. Musk and his 
company. I proposed a subpoena to compel the DOJ and the FTC to turn 
over all documents related to that sham investigation.
  The far left is the enemy of free speech, and their hostility toward 
conservatives is on display in the form of their repeated efforts to 
take down President Trump. So I filed a subpoena amendment for all 
documents related to any political donations made by Special Counsel 
Robert Mueller's staff.
  And for the executive branch, we have a couple of amendments that I 
have filed. The first would authorize a subpoena for Secretary Becerra 
to come before the Committee and explain to us how his Agency has lost 
track of 85,000 unaccompanied children--migrant children--who have come 
to this country. I have talked about this several times on the floor.
  How can you lose track of 85,000 migrant children? They did it. We 
need to know. So that is why they are getting a subpoena.
  The second would subpoena the DOJ to provide all documentation 
concerning the termination of the China Initiative. Now that was one of 
the best tools we have had to fight against Chinese espionage and 
Chinese spies on U.S. soil.
  Now, if I were Chairman Durbin, I wouldn't want to debate those 
subpoenas either because they strike at the heart of one of the Biden 
administration's most dangerous governing principles.
  There are two tiers of justice in this country. Obviously, that is 
the way this administration wants it. There is one tier of justice for 
people the Democrats need to protect and for their cronies and buddies 
and friends and one for people that the Democrats need to destroy to 
maintain their hold on power.
  Tennesseans are deeply afraid of what this means because they know 
where they stand in this new approach of two tiers of justice.
  I don't know if or when Chairman Durbin will reconvene to discuss 
these subpoenas, but I hope that, when the time comes, he will abandon 
this latest assault on the Supreme Court and allow the committee to 
pursue real accountability.