Senator Elizabeth Warren's Floor Speech on Judge Gorsuch's Confirmation Vote

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you to
the Senator from Hawaii for calling us here together today.
Mr. President, it is clear that President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court,
Neil Gorsuch, does not have enough support
in the Senate to be confirmed under our rules.
When a Supreme Court nominee does not have enough support to be confirmed,
the solution is to pick a new nominee.
But Republicans in the Senate are threatening to pursue a different path.
They are considering breaking the Senate rules
to force this nominee onto the Supreme Court anyway.
I’ll be honest – I think it is crazy that we are considering confirming a lifetime
Trump nominee to the Supreme Court at a moment
when the President’s campaign is under the
cloud of an active, ongoing FBI counterintelligence investigation
that could result in indictments and appeals
that will go all the way to the Supreme Court,
so that Trump’s nominee could be the deciding vote
on whether Trump or his supporters broke the law
and will be held accountable.
That is nuts, and I believe we should tap the brakes on any nominee
until this investigation is concluded.
But even if none of that were happening,
I would still oppose the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch.
My objection is based on Judge Gorsuch’s record, which I have reviewed in detail.
Judge Gorsuch’s nomination is the latest step in a long political campaign by right-wing
groups and their billionaire backers to capture our courts.
Over the last thirty years, as the rich have gotten richer and working families have struggled
to make ends meet – the scales of justice have been weighted further and further in
favor of the wealthy and the powerful.
Those powerful interests have invested vast sums of money into reshaping the judiciary,
and their investment has paid off in spades.
Recent Supreme Court decisions have made it easier for corporate giants
who cheat their customers to avoid responsibility.
Recent Supreme Court decisions have let those same corporations and their billionaire investors
spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections and manipulate the political process.
And recent Supreme Court decisions have made it easier for businesses
to abuse and discriminate against their workers.
Giant corporations and right wing groups have notched
a lot of big wins in the Supreme Court lately,
but they know that their luck depends on two things:
first, stacking the courts with their allies,
and second, stopping the confirmation of judges that don’t
sufficiently cater to their interests.
That’s part of the reason that they launched an all-out attack
on fair-minded, mainstream judges.
Judges like Merrick Garland, a thoughtful, intelligent, fair judge,
to fill the open vacancy on the Supreme Court.
These very same corporate and right wing groups handed Donald Trump a list of “acceptable”
people to fill the Supreme Court vacancy — and, as a Presidential candidate,
he promised to pick a justice from their list.
And who made it on to that right-wing list?
People who, unlike Judge Garland, displayed a sufficient allegiance
to their corporate and right wing interests.
Judge Gorsuch was on that list.
His nomination is their reward.
Even before he became a federal judge, Judge Gorsuch fully embraced
right-wing, pro-corporate views.
He argued that it should be harder – not easier – for shareholders who got cheated
to bring fraud cases in court.
On the bench, Judge Gorsuch’s extreme views meant giant corporations
could run over their workers.
In Hobby Lobby, when he had to choose between the “rights” of corporations
and the rights of women, Judge Gorsuch chose corporations.
In consumer protection cases, when he had to choose between the “rights” of corporations
and the rights of the consumers they cheated, Judge Gorsuch chose corporations.
In discrimination cases, when he had to choose between the “rights” of corporations and
the rights of employees who had been discriminated against, Judge Gorsuch chose corporations.
Time after time, in case after case, Judge Gorsuch showed a remarkable talent for creatively
interpreting the law in ways that benefited large corporations and that harmed
working Americans, women, children, and consumers.
And when it comes to the rules that prevent giant corporations from polluting our air
and water, from poisoning our food, from cheating hard-working families,
Judge Gorsuch believes that it should be easier, not harder, for judges to overturn those rules –
a view that is even more extreme than that the late Justice Scalia.
Republicans assert that Judge Gorsuch is a fair, mainstream judge.
But right-wing groups and their wealthy, anonymous funders picked him for one reason:
because they know that he will be their ally.
And that’s not how our court system is supposed to work.
Judges should be neutral arbiters dispensing equal justice under law.
They should not be people handpicked by wealthy insiders and giant corporations.
For the working families struggling to make ends meet, for people desperately in need
of healthcare, for everyone fighting for their right to vote, for disabled students fighting
for access to a quality education – for anyone who cares about our justice system
– there is only one question that should guide us in evaluating a nominee to sit on
any court: whether that person will defend equal justice for every single one of us.
Judge Gorsuch’s record answers that question with a loud no.
Republicans have a choice.
They can tell President Trump to send a new nominee –
a mainstream nominee who can earn broad support.
Or they can jam through this nominee.
If they do jam through Judge Gorsuch, the Republicans will own the Gorsuch Court, and
every extreme 5-4 decision that comes out of it.
Republicans will own every attack on a woman's right to choose, on voting rights,
on LGBTQ rights, on secret spending in our political system,
and on freedom of speech and religion.
Republicans will be responsible for every 5-4 decision that throws millions of Americans
under the bus in order to favor the powerful, moneyed few
who helped put Judge Gorsuch on the bench.
Right now, the Presidency is in the hands of someone who has shown contempt for our
Constitution, contempt for our independent judiciary, contempt for our free press, and
contempt for our moral, democratic principles.
If ever we needed a strong, independent Supreme Court with broad public support,
a Supreme Court that will to stand up for the Constitution,
it is now.
If ever there were a time to say that our courts should not be
handed over to the highest bidder, it is now.
And that is why Judge Gorsuch should not be confirmed
to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Senator Elizabeth Warren's Floor Speech on Judge Gorsuch's Confirmation Vote

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