“The American people want judges who are smart, who are principled, who are fair, and who know that their job is to follow the law, not write the law. The American people know that Neil Gorsuch is exactly that kind of judge. And that’s the kind of judge that we should have on the Supreme Court.”
Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor calling on the Senate to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch as the next associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:
“America needs judges who can follow the law, who have the highest ethical standards, and who value the independence of our courts.
“That is a description of Neil Gorsuch. That’s him in a nutshell.
“We saw it throughout his career and we saw it again at his confirmation hearing last week.
“Democrats on the committee asked him to talk about issues that are going to be coming up before the Supreme Court.
“Judge Gorsuch followed the ethics rules.
“These rules say that judges and nominees should not answer those kinds of questions.
“Following the rules is exactly what he should have done – and it’s exactly what other nominees, Republicans and Democrats who presidents have placed to the court, have done.
“It’s what Ruth Bader Ginsburg did at her confirmation hearing in 1993.
“She said that ‘a judge sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints.’
“She said that this would ‘display disdain for the entire judicial process.’ She was confirmed.
“That’s the Ginsburg standard – and every nominee since then has followed that standard.
“Democrats on the Judiciary Committee also tried last week to criticize Judge Gorsuch for some of his opinions that they didn’t like.
“They suggested that the court should have ignored the law and sided with ‘the little guy’ in the cases.
“Judge Gorsuch was quick to point out that the judges are absolutely not supposed to consider who they think is sympathetic. They’re to rule based on the law.
“Federal judges actually swear an oath to ‘administer justice without respect to persons, and to do equal right to the poor and to the rich.’
“Now it’s interesting because the Minority Leader, Senator Schumer, himself has spoken about how important it is for a judge to be impartial.
“At the confirmation hearing for Justice Sonia Sotomayor in 2009, he praised the way that she put the ‘rule of law above everything else.’
“He said that she did this even when it led to rulings that ‘go against so-called sympathetic litigants.’
“That was 2009, fast forward to 2017. It is the identical standard that Judge Gorsuch has followed.
“He pointed out that it’s his job to apply the law – and writing the laws is the job of the legislative branch of government.
“We are not here selecting the 101st Senator. This is not about who ought to be another Senator, this is about who should be on the Supreme Court.
“We’re selecting a judge for the most important court of the land.
“Nearly everyone who has looked at this nominee’s record, who has watched his confirmation hearing, they agree that he would be an excellent justice.
“There was one lawyer who wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post on March 8.
“He’s a board member of the liberal American Constitution Society. He wrote that ‘there is no principled reason’ to vote against Judge Gorsuch.
“A Denver Post editorial last week said Judge Gorsuch would make ‘a marvelous addition to the Supreme Court.’
“The American Bar Association has given him its highest possible rating.
“He was even introduced at his confirmation hearing last week by a former top lawyer for the Obama administration.
“Neal Katyal is a Democrat – he was the acting solicitor general under President Obama, for the United States.
“He has called Judge Gorsuch ‘one of the most thoughtful and brilliant judges to have served our nation over the last century.’
“I think any Democrat who watched the confirmation hearings and who looked at the nominee’s record will decide it is an easy decision to confirm him.
“If there is a Democrat who reaches the opposite conclusion, I say come to this floor. Come to the floor of the United States Senate.
“Explain why you think our judges should go into a case favoring one side or another.
“If you think that a judge should make promises about how they’ll rule – just to win the vote of a senator – go ahead, come to the floor, make your case.
“If you think that a justice of the Supreme Court should ignore the law – and rule, not based on the law, but by that judge’s own preferences – please come to the floor and say so.
“I don’t think that’s what the American people want.
“The American people want judges who are smart, who are principled, who are fair, and who know that their job is to follow the law, not write the law.
“The American people know that Neil Gorsuch is exactly that kind of judge. And that’s the kind of judge that we should have on the Supreme Court – and on every court of the land.”
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