'Are Members Of The Executive... Required To Follow Court Orders?': Alex Padilla Grills Judge Noms

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During a Senate Judiciary Hearing last week, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) questioned President Trump's judicial nominees.

Transcript

00:00Thank you Senator Blumenthal. Senator Padilla. Thank you Madam Chair. Good afternoon now to all

00:07of you. Appreciate your patience. Appreciate you being here today. The first couple questions I

00:12have I got I believe are pretty straightforward. So I'm going to in the first one ask for a yes

00:18or no answer. It's a subject area that some of my colleagues have raised but I'm going to be

00:23as direct as I can. The question is this. Are members of the executive branch required to follow

00:34court orders? We'll begin with Mr. Arto. I think as I answered before I all you know generally

00:44speaking all parties that that are subjected to a court order are required to follow orders.

00:53There are. That's a yes. There are a few exceptions but you know like appeals stays. I'll get to

01:01in a second. Yeah. Let's go down the third. Senator outside of the exceptions that were mentioned then

01:06that's a yes. Same answer. My answer is the same. And I you know been hearing well you know there's

01:15exceptions. What is the appropriate way or options for a litigant to respond to a court order they

01:23think was incorrectly decided? And I'm talking district and circuit court level. What are the

01:30options if you disagree with the ruling or finding? Would you like me to start

01:35Senator? Yes. To seek a stay. To seek rehearing. To seek an appeal. To explain why it would not be

01:43possible. Perhaps put in some evidence to that regard. Not just explaining to the general public

01:49right. The judicial process. You know seek a stay. Seek an appeal. There's there's mechanisms for

01:55registering your disagreement right and finding another day in court. Let's continue. I agree with

02:01Judge Artao's statement. Those exceptions are the appropriate mechanisms to keep my answer short.

02:09Yes there are various mechanisms to seek review or stay of a court order with which a party disagrees.

02:14And I agree with those answers. So I didn't hear any of you say that just disregarding or dismissing

02:21court orders is an option. I don't speak for you. If anybody disagrees with that my interpretation

02:28for answers is dismissing or disregarding court orders is not an option. You can register your

02:34objection at this point. Seeing none. Thank you for that. So this next question is I'm a member of the

02:47Senate Judiciary Committee and your judicial nominees before us. But my motive for asking this question

02:56is actually just at a basic human level. We're living at a time where the president of the United States

03:04has not been shy about expressing his disapproval of so many figures in our country but members of the

03:13judiciary. Judges and justices are not an exception to that. When there are cases that are found against his

03:24interest, against his agenda, against his favor, he has on multiple occasions, either directly or indirectly

03:33criticized, some say harassed, or directly or indirectly suggested others, maybe his supporters,

03:42to do that, focusing their ire on members of the bench.

03:47This is not news to any of you. What I'd like to know is whether before you were reached out to for a

03:55potential nomination or subsequent to outreach to you for a potential nomination, did you consider this

04:03new dynamic in the American political environment? And did you have discussions with your spouses and

04:11your families about how you would handle it if you became the target of such criticisms and or

04:21harassment or anything to that effect? Mr. Artel, we'll go down the line.

04:26I mean, this job, I've always thought, requires courage. It requires judicial courage. I think it's

04:34quality that I have. As I said, I've been a judge for 11 years, and I have not been shy about ruling

04:44on cases that I need to rule on, and it comes with the territory. So I understand that I may be

04:51criticized, and I'm likely to be criticized, and I was willing to take that risk because I love my

04:57country and I want to serve my country. Thank you. Senator, I would just add to that that I do believe

05:03this is a very public-facing job, that criticism is part of it, and, you know, in litigation in

05:10general, someone generally leaves unhappy with your decision, and I've accepted that, and I believe

05:14it's responsibility of a judge to apply the law to the facts as they stand before you, regardless of

05:21the outcome that it may be. So that's what I would do moving forward if I was confirmed. Thank you.

05:27I agree. A judge needs to be willing, if the law requires, to issue an unpopular decision.

05:33And I think it's a great feature of our country that individuals have a First Amendment right

05:39to express, you know, their thoughts about judicial decisions. I think that, you know, my concern when

05:44I look at a case isn't, you know, any criticism that might come my way. It's only, you know, what

05:50does the law require to the case that's in front of me? And I think that anyone who takes the judicial

05:54oath needs to have the courage to do that in any case, regardless who the party is, regardless what

05:59the issue is. And that's my answer, Senator. Senator, I agree. I think this is a tough job,

06:05and only tough people should do it. Criticism comes with the territory. My job is to follow

06:11the law and not concern myself with what someone might say and not get my feelings hurt about what

06:18they might say. Look, I appreciate your answers. Y'all focused on criticism, willingness to be

06:24criticized, comes with the territory. The Times we're living in is, I wish it was just contained

06:30to that. Not a hypothetical. There's been instances, multiple instances, where the rhetoric

06:36is beyond just criticism. It does fall into the areas of harassment. Some suggest even threats.

06:44And I pray that none of you become victims of that, should you be fortunate enough to be

06:50confirmed. Thank you for your time. Senator Schiff, good timing. Thank you.

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