[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 167 (Thursday, October 9, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S7062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Jennifer Lee Mascott

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today the Senate will vote to confirm 
Jennifer Lee Mascott, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
Third Circuit.
  Ms. Mascott is a nominee who was selected for her loyalty to 
President Trump and her extreme view on expansive Presidential power, 
which she has advocated for many years.
  At a Federalist Society event in 2018, she agreed with John Eastman, 
President Trump's disgraced and disbarred lawyer, in stating that any 
independence of independent Agencies is ``too much.'' And just days 
before she joined the White House Counsel's Office, she stated that the 
Supreme Court should overrule Humphrey's Executor, the landmark 90-year 
precedent establishing the constitutionality of laws protecting the 
heads of independent Agencies from being fired. She claimed that ``the 
President needs to be able to . . . get rid of folks who don't follow 
his instructions'' at independent Agencies.
  If Ms. Mascott's arguments carry the day, President Trump will be 
free to continue his holy war against bipartisan independent Agencies 
entrusted with protecting the rights and safety of Americans like the 
Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. If 
he succeeds, something as important as consumer protection will be 
based on the whims of the political party in power, not the valued 
expertise of subject matter experts.
  Just last year, Ms. Mascott told this committee that the Supreme 
Court's outrageous decision granting sweeping immunity to President 
Trump was ``modest.''
  I am also troubled by Ms. Mascott's selection process for this 
Delaware seat. Nominees are required to provide details about how they 
were selected, but Ms. Mascott failed to provide the dates when she was 
interviewed by the White House Counsel's Office. Notably, the Delaware 
Senators suggested to the White House several well-qualified 
conservative jurists who had strong ties to the Delaware legal 
community. Ms. Mascott was selected although she has never lived in 
Delaware nor any State in the Third Circuit; she is not licensed to 
practice in Delaware; and she was only admitted to the Third Circuit 
this May.
  For all these reasons, I urge my colleagues to oppose her nomination.