At Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took a victory lap for Republicans blocking a Biden-era judicial nominee, and questioned Whitney D. Hermandorfer, nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit.
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00:00service, not just to Tennessee, but for the nation. And I want to thank you for it.
00:06Senator Cruz.
00:09Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Hermandorfer, congratulations, welcome.
00:15I am thrilled that you are seated here before the committee. You are the very first appellate
00:20court nominee put forth by President Trump in this new administration. And it's symbolic
00:25that the seat you've been nominated to fill is the same one Democrats tried to hand the nomination
00:33to a woman named Carla Campbell, Carla with a K, in the Biden administration.
00:38I'm glad that Republicans on this committee stood firm and stopped Ms. Campbell's confirmation.
00:44She had a deeply troubling record. She affiliated with an explicitly Marxist organization
00:54that called for a working class revolution and abolishing both the police and ICE.
01:01She financially supported a radical far left candidate that said that Republicans were,
01:08quote, siding with the devil. And she repeatedly misled this committee about her past.
01:14That contrast tells a story. The Biden administration tried to place a radical Marxist ideologue on the
01:25Sixth Circuit, a nomination that Republicans rightly stopped. And now under President Trump,
01:32we are restoring judges who respect the Constitution and the rule of law to the bench.
01:37Ms. Hermandorfer, your academic record is extremely impressive. You've clerked for not one, not two,
01:47but three Supreme Court justices. Then Judge Kavanaugh, Justice Alito, Justice Barrett. Now I would note,
01:55the chairman clerked for one Supreme Court justice. Senator Lee clerked for one Supreme Court justice. And I
02:02clerked for one Supreme Court justice. For the record, I'm going to say I'm pissed that you clerked for three.
02:08And I may have to filibuster your nomination because of it.
02:11I hope not. But tell us what you learned clerking for those three jurists.
02:19So I've taken so many lessons from those jurists. Um, the, that the role of the judge is to
02:26carefully listen to all parties and, um, carefully deliberate with respect to all cases that come
02:33before, um, him or her and, uh, to treat colleagues and litigants with respect and to understand that
02:41you can disagree about the law without being disagreeable. Um, I think the most important lesson
02:47though, Senator Cruz, I learned is that in our system, judges are intentionally insulated from
02:52political accountability precisely because they're going to issue rulings sometimes that, um, some
02:59segments of the public or the majority, um, may not agree with. And that's not always a pleasant task,
03:08but it's necessary to preserve our system. And so too, it's necessary that judges have, um,
03:16backbone and grit and courage in carrying out their obligations, uh, under article three.
03:22And so those are attributes that I witnessed and that I would try to take with me to the best
03:27of my abilities where I fortunate enough to be confirmed.
03:31So you also were a star basketball player at, at my alma mater at Princeton.
03:36Star might be a little strong, Senator. You were captain of the team.
03:39Uh, tell us what you learned about playing, uh, playing competitive basketball at the collegiate level.
03:48I mean, my basketball journey started when I was very young and my poor parents who are here,
03:51you know, drove me around probably to every, uh, gym in Tennessee, um, so I could pursue my dreams of
03:58playing college sports. There's nothing like having to wake up early at 5am in the snow and go down to the
04:05weight room, uh, to instill self-discipline and grit. And, um, I've carried those lessons and the work ethic
04:13with me, uh, and I've been knocked down many times, both on the court and off. And, uh, I learned that it's
04:20really about how you carry yourself and your attitude and your effort, um, can get you through even when, um,
04:27you're facing challenges. And I guess, lastly, I would say playing basketball, um, I had the
04:34pleasure of getting to know girls from all walks of life, from all over the state, all over the country.
04:39And so getting along with, with folks from different backgrounds and who have different perspectives
04:44is something I have experience with and would also try to, uh, take with me.
04:49Talk to us about the First Amendment and the importance of the First Amendment.
04:53Um, without sounding trite, you know, it's the First Amendment for
04:57a reason. Um, it protects both, I mean, the five main freedoms, um, you know, the free exercise of
05:03religion. There's also the Establishment Clause, of course, um, freedom of the press, freedom to
05:08petition the government when you're, um, want to change a law, um, freedom to assemble. And, um, I can't
05:17remember if I said four or five, but, um, uh, the importance of that is that in our system, the people
05:25have the power to express their deeply held views, uh, and to try to make political change.
05:30And, um, it's not up to the government to stifle any views that it deems, um, you know, heterodox or,
05:37um, unorthodox. It is to, um, protect the will of the people as they express it, uh, in their public
05:47comments. Thank you, Professor. Senator Schiff.