John Thune Makes The Case For Key Judicial Nominee, Accuses Dems Of Trying To 'Politicize' SCOTUS

6 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) spoke about the nomination of Whitney Hermandorfer to serve as United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit.

Transcript

00:01Majority Leader.

00:02Thank you, Madam President.

00:03Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended.

00:06Without objection.

00:07Madam President, on Tuesday evening I filed cloture on the nomination of Whitney Hermendorfer

00:12of Tennessee to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit,

00:16the first of President Trump's judicial nominees that we'll consider this month.

00:21I'm excited that the White House has started sending over judicial nominations,

00:25eager to get to floor confirmation of Trump's nominees.

00:30Madam President, one of the great achievements of President Trump's first term

00:34was the confirmation of some 234 judges to the federal bench.

00:39At the start of the first Trump administration, the President and Congress were faced

00:43with well over 100 openings in the judiciary.

00:46A daunting number, but an incredible opportunity to shape the federal bench.

00:51The administration got right to work on identifying good judicial candidates,

00:55and Leader McConnell determined that we were going to fill those slots and others that would open up.

01:01And not just fill them, of course, Madam President.

01:04The President and Leader McConnell, and then Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley,

01:10were determined to fill them with the right kind of judges.

01:15Judges who would faithfully interpret the law, not attempt to legislate from the bench.

01:20Our interest was in putting judges on the bench who would look at the law, the Constitution,

01:25and the facts of the case, and rule based on those criteria and nothing else.

01:30That might seem like an obvious goal for judicial nominations, Madam President,

01:35but unfortunately that's not always the case.

01:37In fact, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle frequently seem to prefer another kind of judge,

01:43the kind of judge who will rule in line with Democrats' policy preferences even when the law doesn't support them.

01:51You only have to look at Democrats' attempts to politicize and delegitimize the Supreme Court

01:57for daring to occasionally rule against Democrats' preferred outcomes

02:02to realize that Democrats aren't interested in judges who will rule according to the law.

02:07They're interested in judges who will rule according to the platform of the Democrat Party.

02:14And that is a very dangerous thing, Madam President.

02:19Our system is based on a belief in the rule of law.

02:22In the American system, the law is supposed to be final, the impartial arbiter.

02:29Cases are to be decided based on what the law says, not on what a particular judge feels.

02:37Sure, it might seem nice when an activist judge goes outside the meaning of the law and rules for your preferred outcome.

02:44But what happens when that same judge reaches beyond the law to your detriment?

02:49What protection do you have if the law is no longer the highest authority?

02:54Equal justice under the law can only be maintained as long as judges actually rule based on the law

03:01and not on their personal feelings or political opinions.

03:05An activist judiciary is a threat to justice.

03:08It's a threat to the separation of powers.

03:11And it's a threat to individual liberty.

03:14And one of the things I'm proudest of in the first Trump administration

03:17is the number of judges we put on the bench who understand this,

03:20who understand that our system depends on the rule of law, not the rule of unelected judges,

03:27who understand that their job is to interpret the law,

03:30not usurp the job of the people's elected representatives by legislating from the bench.

03:36Madam President, we're not facing the number of judicial vacancies this Congress

03:39that we faced during President Trump's first term.

03:42There are currently only around 50 vacancies on the federal bench.

03:46So our job now is to continue the good work that we began during the first Trump administration

03:51by filling those vacancies with more judges who understand the proper role of a judge.

03:58And that starts with confirming Ms. Hermendorfer.

04:03Madam President, I'm grateful to Leader McConnell and Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley

04:10and to Lindsey Graham for their incredible efforts during President Trump's first term.

04:15And I'm grateful to President Trump for the caliber of judges he has nominated

04:20and continues to nominate to the bench.

04:23And I look forward to working with President Trump and Chairman Grassley

04:26to confirm more outstanding judges during this Congress.

04:31Madam President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

John Thune Makes The Case For Key Judicial Nominee, Accuses Dems Of Trying To 'Politicize' SCOTUS

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