00:00Thanks for being here and appreciate your family and friends joining with you on this
00:16important day in your lives.
00:19Mr. Meredith, you heard my opening statement relative to the pardons that were given by
00:23the governor of Kentucky.
00:25Why don't we give you an opportunity now to explain the questions that I raised?
00:32Senator, I can tell you that I learned about the governor's last-minute controversial pardons
00:40in the media after we left office.
00:43And I remember in your opening remarks, you mentioned the Baker pardon.
00:47And I can tell you without hesitation that I did not review that pardon file and I did
00:53not advise the governor on that.
00:56How about another individual who received a commuted sentence, Dayton Jones, child predator
01:01convicted of sodomizing an unconscious boy and causing life-threatening injuries?
01:06Same answer, Senator.
01:08I did not review that file, nor did I advise the governor on that.
01:11Who advised the governor in terms of his pardon policy?
01:15Well, there were several lawyers in the office.
01:19I don't know who advised the governor.
01:20I don't know if anybody did.
01:21You know, perhaps the general counsel did.
01:25I just, I would be speculating, Senator.
01:26It wasn't me, and I don't know.
01:29Mr. Mercer, there's some question as to, I'm not going to go into the history with the U.S.
01:36attorneys.
01:37Someone else raised that if they wish.
01:39But I'd like to ask you about your characterization of the January 6th defendants.
01:45Did you make a recommendation to the Montana Republican Party to insert a characterization
01:50and their platform that the January 6th defendants were being held in indefinite detention?
01:59Ranking Member Durbin, I do not believe so, and I certainly have no recollection of that.
02:05What is your feeling about the prosecution of the January 6th defendants?
02:08It's become something of an issue here.
02:11Ranking Member Durbin, my view is that those are cases that were considered by the department
02:19and brought and adjudicated in the system, and the outcomes are clear,
02:24and I don't have anything really to add on that issue.
02:29What is your reaction to the full and unconditional pardon of the January 6th defendants by President Trump?
02:35Ranking Member Durbin, my position on that is that the pardon power is something that the judiciary has no involvement in,
02:45and as a nominee for this position, I don't believe it would be appropriate for me to comment on that issue.
02:54While serving in the Montana State Legislature, you initially opposed a bill designed to eliminate the three-year statute of limitations
03:00for civil lawsuits by sex abuse victims.
03:03A group of survivors were critical of you and said that you made a total sellout in favor of child molesters and insurance companies.
03:12I'm relieved that despite your opposition, a compromise bill was enacted.
03:16If confirmed, how can victims of sexual abuse rely on you to rule on their cases fairly and justly,
03:22given your opposition to extending the statute of limitations for these types of cases?
03:27Ranking Member Durbin, I respectfully disagree with your construction of the matter.
03:35The bill in 2019 was brought to create an unlimited statute of limitations with respect to child sexual abuse hands-on offenders.
03:45And we looked at what had occurred nationally in terms of similar statutes
03:49with a healthy respect for what statute of limitations bring in civil cases,
03:54which is the ability to have measures brought in a timely fashion.
03:59We ultimately surveyed nationally what those provisions look like in other states,
04:04and we concluded that most states allowed victims of child sexual hood hands-on offenses
04:11to bring those cases sometime after reaching majority and usually for some period of time after reaching majority.
04:19So the statute that we ultimately passed created the ability to bring that case up to,
04:25I believe it was age 26.
04:27It was either age 26 or 27.
04:29That puts Montana code firmly in line with what other states have done.
04:34And the key thing in that legislation that we did was create a much more robust reporting mechanism
04:41that allows us to have clarity, or rather allows the Attorney General of the state
04:46to have clarity through the county attorneys on matters being referred for investigation
04:51by the Department of Public Health and Human Services.
04:54So we thought it was very important legislation, and we're pleased with the outcome.
04:59Mr. Meredith, beginning in 2017, you defended a Kentucky law that required doctors
05:04to present certain information to patients before the performance of an abortion procedure.
05:09As part of your defense of that law, you stated, and I quote,
05:12not every patient understands the consequences of an abortion procedure.
05:17You further stated, quote, there are a number of patients who don't understand the nature of the fetus within them.
05:22Mr. Meredith, what was your basis for asserting that female patients do not understand their own medical needs?
05:27Senator, my recollection is that those arguments were rehashing for the evidence that was in the record.
05:36My recollection is that there were several sworn declarations in the record.
05:42What were the sources? Do you know?
05:44I'm sorry, Senator?
05:45What were the sources of those?
05:47Those were declarations from individuals who had received abortions in the past.
05:52Do you believe that female patients are less likely or less able to understand medical advice than male patients?
05:57Senator, I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand your question.
06:02Could you?
06:03Well, you said not every patient understands the consequences, and we certainly know that we're talking primarily of women of childbearing status.
06:12And you went on to say there are a number of patients who don't understand the nature of the fetus.
06:17Do you believe that female patients are less likely to understand this?
06:20Senator, what we were saying in those arguments is we were summarizing the evidence in the record for the court.
06:28There were several witnesses who testified by a sworn declaration that they wished, my recollection is they said they wished they had had that information because they didn't quite understand the nature and the consequences of that issue.
06:42Didn't understand the nature of the fetus, women?
06:44My recollection is that the testimony in the record in the sworn declarations said that that would have been helpful information that they would have liked to have had.
06:56And I believe that also was kind of hearkening back to statements in the Supreme Court's Casey opinion as well as perhaps Gonzalez v. Carhartt.
07:06I'm going to tell you I don't understand what you're saying based on this quote here, and if you wish, it's your decision.
07:15If you want to clarify what you've just said in light of what I quoted, please do so, because at this point I believe there's really a serious question as to what you were trying to say.
07:26Senator, we were just simply making an argument based on the evidence in the record, and it was the commonwealth's.
07:31Your decision as to whether you want to clarify it, but at this point I think it's going to be a problem for some of us.
07:36Thank you very much.
07:38Senator Welch.
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