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Forbes Breaking News
  • 5 months ago
At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questioned Joshua D. Dunlap, nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit.
Transcript
00:00Well thank you chairman. Mr. Dunlap, it appears that you were active in Maine
00:12against a ballot initiative legalizing same-sex marriage. Is that true? I believe
00:23you're referencing simply an op-ed that I published that expressed at the time my
00:29disagreement with the theft of political signs through that. If you were not
00:34active against that ballot initiative why would you be engaged about political
00:42signs? I lived in the area in which I observed that political signs are being
00:49stolen and in my view on the First Amendment. Your testimony to us is that
00:55that was only about political signs? That you did not take an active part in the
01:00anti-same-sex marriage ballot initiative? I did not play a part in that ballot
01:08initiative, no. I'm sorry? Say again? I did not take a part in that ballot initiative, no.
01:12Even as a advocate? I mean you weren't when you say you did not take a part in it
01:19what exactly does that mean? I had no active role or participation in any
01:23campaign relating to that. Did you say that gay marriage would affect our rights
01:33under the First Amendment, freedom of speech, and free exercise of religion? Again
01:40the position that I was taking there was that in the context of that ongoing
01:44political campaign that there were thefts of political signs and I expressed my
01:48disapproval of that. The political speech is central to the First Amendment. But
01:53you also said that allowing gay marriage would affect our rights under the First
02:01Amendment, freedom of speech, and free exercise of religion. So you at least took
02:04that public position, did you not? I did. Which is a little bit different than taking no
02:10public position. You also supported a main bill entitled an Act to Allow a Wrongful Death
02:18Cause of Action for the Death of an Unborn Child. Could that statute be applied to a
02:26woman seeking an abortion or to a doctor providing an abortion? So that proposal
02:33would have brought Maine's law into line with that of all other New England states. It does
02:39not apply in the context of abortion. It would have given grieving parents the
02:45opportunity to recover for a tortious death as that was defined. But not one
02:51provided, not one related to the woman obtaining medical care? Again that statute
02:57exists throughout New England except for the state of Maine and it has not
03:01affected abortion rights in those states. When you were in law school you interned for a
03:07non-profit whose purpose is to oppose women's reproductive rights and to oppose
03:17marriage equality and to oppose the right of LGBTQ couples to adopt children. Did you
03:30intern for that organization because you supported or shared those views? I was a
03:36Blackstone Fellow. I participated in a program that offered training in First
03:41Amendment law draws from a wide variety of law schools across the country and
03:47offered the opportunity as well for an internship. I spent my internship that
03:52summer as a research assistant for Professor Garnett. Did you have choices in what group you
04:00interned with? I applied to that for that job, yes. You applied for that job for that group that has as its
04:09purpose to oppose women's reproductive rights, to oppose marriage equality, and to
04:14oppose the right of LGBTQ couples to adopt children, correct? I applied for the Blackstone
04:20Fellowship which is run by ADF which is a highly successful law firm. And you chose to do that
04:29internship at ADF, correct? You weren't forced there, you weren't driven there, you
04:34weren't, this was your choice to do that. You picked that internship and you picked
04:38that organization. That's correct. And yet you say that you had no view on the
04:45same-sex marriage question in Maine even though you devoted yourself in law
04:50school to interning for an organization that opposes same-sex marriage. I don't
04:59believe I ever testified that I did not have a view. I said I did not participate
05:02in the campaign. Yeah, well your version of participate seems a little squirrely to
05:09me when you're actually writing op-eds related to that question. I will leave it
05:19there because my time has expired but I hope that we'll get real answers, Mr.
05:28Chairman, to our questions for the record. I've been told that Republican
05:33members are telling witnesses that they actually don't need to answer questions
05:37for the record and we've seen sham answers to questions for the record. This
05:45committee is spiraling away from being the least bit responsible with respect to
05:51our oversight and I would hate to think that QFR is no longer matter in the
05:56judiciary committee of the United States Senate. Thank you.
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