National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we all know the Senate of the United States is composed of two Senators from each State. Today I have news. My home State of Illinois just picked up a third senator.
Last month, the Irish Prime Minister--Taoiseach--Enda Kenny, announced eight appointees to the Irish Senate. One of the appointees is my dear friend in Chicago, Billy Lawless.
Billy is the first Irish citizen living in the United States to be appointed to the Irish Senate. This is truly historic. Today Billy takes a seat in the Irish Senate. Ireland will get a senator who will fight for the disenfranchised, the dispossessed, and those yearning to work hard for a better life.
No one has been a stronger voice and advocate for the Irish diaspora and immigration reform than Billy Lawless of Chicago, IL. Prime Minister Kenny couldn't have made a better choice.
For generations, sons and daughters of the Emerald Isle have landed on our shores in search of the American dream. Billy Lawless is no different. As a young boy, he grew up on a dairy farm in Galway, a city in western Ireland, delivering unpasteurized milk to local restaurants and hotels.
As an adult, he made a name for himself as a prominent businessman in Galway. He ran several pubs, restaurants, and hotels. Life was good, but for years he had always had a dream of opening a restaurant in the United States. When his youngest daughter earned a full college scholarship in the United States, Billy took that as a sign from Heaven. He moved his family to America. After 48 years in Galway, he wanted to see if he could succeed in the United States and he personally could live the American dream.
He first went to Boston and Philadelphia, but on December 31, 1997, New Year's Eve, a historic day, Billy Lawless arrived in Chicago and knew he had found a home. From Galway, that most Irish of Irish cities, to Chicago, the most Irish of American cities, it was a perfect transition.
Within 6 months, Billy opened an establishment known as Irish Oak, just a couple blocks south of Wrigley Field. Today he owns four restaurants and a fifth one is about to open. All the Lawless restaurants are known for three things--great food, great fun, and great people.
Simply put, the Lawless family is restaurant royalty in Chicago. The family business started with 10 employees. Now they have 300. Since arriving in Chicago nearly 20 years ago, Billy has brought new energy to the city--Irish energy--hard work, and a stubborn drive to succeed. With the great help of his great wife Anne and his four children-- Billy, Jr., Amy, John Paul, and Clodagh--Billy achieved the American dream.
Billy could have said: I have achieved my American dream. Good luck with yours.
That is not who he is. After all, Billy is Irish. He looks out for his friends and neighbors.
The first bar Billy opened, the Irish Oak, became a favorite for Irish construction workers. Many of them were undocumented and asked for Billy's help in getting their papers in order. Billy never hesitated. He became their champion and a strong defender of Irish immigrants everywhere. When asked why he took such an interest in the issue, he said: ``That's what we Irish do for each other.'' But he didn't stop there. When he learned that those same problems were shared by others, Billy became an eloquent and forceful advocate for all immigrants.
Billy Lawless gets it. He understands that protecting immigrants' rights is part of the strength of our immigrant Nation. I know he will continue to be an energetic and compassionate guardian of the Irish diaspora and all immigrants' rights from his seat in the Irish Senate.
The United States and Ireland have long and proud histories, forged in the fires of a proud and rebellious spirit and united in friendship. Having Billy Lawless's unique and authentic voice in the Irish Senate will only strengthen our countries here and abroad. He represents the very best of the both the Irish and American spirit.
It was only 2 years ago that I came to the Senate floor to congratulate Billy and his wife Anne on becoming citizens of the United States. They had waited a long time, and they had worked hard for it. I was proud to call them not just my friends but my fellow Americans. Today I am proud to call Billy Lawless my fellow Senator.
Congratulations on a well-deserved honor. Independence of our Federal Judiciary
Mr. President, I rise to address an issue of serious constitutional gravity. I rise to address the latest in a long line of appalling and insulting remarks made by the Republican Party's presumptive Presidential nominee.
Last week Donald Trump attacked the ethnicity of U.S. district court judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump's so-called university.
Mr. Trump referred to Judge Curiel's heritage in a lengthy tirade about the judge's ruling in the case. He also called Judge Curiel a ``hater'' and ``a total disgrace,'' suggesting that the judge should recuse himself due to his ``negative'' rulings.
When pressed on the issue, Mr. Trump doubled down. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published last Thursday, Mr. Trump stated that Judge Curiel had ``an absolute conflict'' in presiding over the lawsuit because the judge is of ``Mexican heritage.''
Mr. Trump went on to explain that the judge's ethnicity presents an ``inherent conflict of interest'' because of Mr. Trump's campaign pledge to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.
Let me be clear. Mr. Trump's attacks on Judge Curiel have been characterized--even by Republican Senators and Congressmen--as racist, inappropriate, and completely unfounded.
Judge Curiel is an American. He was born in East Chicago, IN, just steps away from the border with my State. His parents had emigrated from Mexico to the United States.
He has a distinguished record. After attending law school at Indiana University, Judge Curiel practiced law in Indiana and California. In 1989, he joined the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of California.
As a Federal prosecutor, Judge Curiel served in the Narcotics Enforcement Division and worked to bring down drug cartels. After prosecuting a major cartel, he received a death threat and was forced to live under guard for months.
In 2007, he was appointed by a Republican Governor in California to serve as a State judge. President Obama later nominated Judge Curiel to the Federal bench. The Senate confirmed his nomination by a unanimous vote on September 22, 2012.
Judge Curiel is well respected in the legal community. A former colleague recently said: ``His integrity is beyond reproach.'' And a California attorney who led the screening committee that reviewed Judge Curiel in 2011 said:
He was very highly recommended. No one could say a bad thing about him.
Despite these accomplishments, Donald Trump views Judge Curiel as incapable of serving as an impartial jurist in this case involving Trump University due to the judge's ethnicity. Mr. Trump believes the lawsuit that Judge Curiel is presiding over should have been dismissed long ago. Maybe Mr. Trump should take a closer look at reality.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Mr. Trump's so-called university, and in one of the two lawsuits that Judge Curiel is presiding over, former students allege that Mr. Trump and Trump University defrauded them by making misrepresentations about the education they would receive.
The plaintiffs provided evidence to support their claims and, as a result, Judge Curiel denied a motion from Mr. Trump to grant summary judgment in his favor, which would have avoided a trial. Nothing in this ruling suggests a lack of impartiality. Instead, Judge Curiel's rulings indicate that a factual dispute exists in the case and the plaintiffs deserve their day in court.
Unfortunately, reality and the facts don't seem to matter to Mr. Trump. Instead of acknowledging the inappropriateness of his attacks on Judge Curiel's character and heritage, he has doubled down on them. Mr. Trump apparently believes that after he bullies and demeans a group of people, he should never have to face a member of that community in a courtroom.
One of Mr. Trump's most reprehensible statements--and there are many--calls for a total and complete ban on Muslim immigrants coming to the United States of America. In an interview that aired on ``Face the Nation'' on Sunday, Mr. Trump was asked:
If it were a Muslim judge, would you also feel like they wouldn't be able to treat you fairly because of that policy of yours?
He responded:
It's possible, yes. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely.
Where does Mr. Trump's twisted logic end? Does his crude attack on a disabled reporter present a conflict of interest for a judge with a disability who presides over a case against him? Do his disparaging remarks about women disqualify female judges from ruling on lawsuits filed against his failed business ventures?
Mr. Trump's assertions are not only bigoted, they also endanger the independence of the Federal judiciary as he aspires to the highest office in the land. Despite those concerns, Senate Republicans are keeping 89 Federal judicial seats vacant, including an empty seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, in the hopes that Donald Trump will be able to fill those vacancies.
After Mr. Trump's racist diatribes, I would like to ask my colleagues how they can possibly trust Mr. Trump to appoint judges to the Federal bench. Are they comfortable with a potential President who apparently believes that the only qualified candidates for Federal judgeships are those who possess racial, religious, or other characteristics that he has not yet disparaged?
Trusting Donald Trump to fill judgeships in our Nation's Federal courtrooms is a risky and constitutionally dangerous bet. Placing that trust in Trump would threaten grave harm to our system of justice and to our rule of law.
I thought--or had hoped--that we had moved past the dark time in our Nation's history when defendants believed it was appropriate to try to remove judges from a lawsuit on the basis of race. It was just over 40 years ago that an African-American Federal judge named A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. presided over a class action lawsuit involving civil rights claims.
The defendants in the lawsuit filed motions to disqualify Judge Higginbotham from the case based on his race. In his opinion denying their motions, Judge Higginbotham wrote the following:
It would be a tragic day for the nation and the judiciary if a myopic vision of the judge's role should prevail, a vision that required judges to refrain from participating in their churches, in their non-political community affairs, in their universities. So long as Jewish judges preside over matters where Jewish and Gentile litigants disagree; so long as Protestant judges preside over matters where Protestant and Catholic litigants disagree; so long as White judges preside over matters where White and Black litigants disagree, I will preside over matters where Black and White litigants disagree.
In light of Mr. Trump's reprehensible remarks, Judge Higginbotham's words have taken on a renewed resonance. If Mr. Trump's myopic vision for the Federal judiciary prevails, it will indeed be a tragic day for the Nation.
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