Water Resources Development Act of 2016
Floor Speech
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I come to the floor once again on the topic of the vacant seat on our Supreme Court. I would also echo Senators Durbin's comments about the need to move immediately on the funding on Zika. We of course passed something here that had clear bipartisan support. Now we wait to get this done again and to not politicize this incredible public health threat.
Today I am focusing my remarks on the damage to our system of governance that is being done by leaving a seat open on our Nation's highest Court. For years, we have seen some fraying of our democracy, the polarization, but the citizens of America have always believed in an independent Supreme Court. We have seen some political creep, as we know, into our judicial selection process. Nonetheless, the citizens of America have respected the rule of law. They continue to do that.
When our Founding Fathers sat down to sketch out the framework of our Nation, they did not issue decrees. No, they set up a system of governance with three equal branches. The Federalist Papers outline this balance of paper in detail. Alexander Hamilton once wrote about this balance. He wrote:
The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges holding their offices during good behavior. . . . They are means, and powerful means, by which the excellences of republican government may be retained and its imperfections lessened or avoided.
Well, that is not going to happen if we have a Court that cannot fully function. We have, in the most recent term, less cases brought up before the Court because we don't have a full composite of Justices. We have had split decisions. Think back in time. What if we only had eight Justices and a 4-to-4 decision on Bush v. Gore or in the Miranda case or Brown v. Board of Education?
Actually, an interesting fact is, the Brown decision may not have happened if it were not for the swift filling of a Supreme Court vacancy. Chief Justice Vincent died just before the reargument of the case. By most accounts, the eight-person Court was split on the issue. Had this Senate refused to give Earl Warren a hearing and a vote, we would not have had the decision, but the Senate allowed for a vote and Chief Justice Warren was confirmed, the Brown decision was handed down, and our Nation has seen great progress toward equality as a result of that decision.
In fact, the process in the Senate for the last 100 years is that the Judiciary Committee holds hearings. In the few instances where they have not, that is because those nominees were confirmed in 11 days or less. Since 1916, every nominee has been handled in that fashion. Justice Kagan has said the current Justices on the Court are doing everything they can to build a consensus and avoid a 4-to-4 split. While I appreciate that effort, that is just not how it is supposed to work. We want laws to rise or fall because the Supreme Court has decided them, not because of a 4-to-4 split.
Look at the nominee we have. He is someone who has had broad support on both sides of the aisle. Senator Hatch once came before this body and said he challenged everyone to come to the floor to say something negative about Judge Garland. Judge Garland oversaw both the Oklahoma City bombing case and the Unabomber case at nearly the same time. He earned a 76-to-23 vote in this Chamber for his last job, and he is someone who has routinely received positive comments from judges and commentators from the other side of the aisle who basically have acknowledged he is someone who looks for that common ground.
I have no doubt he would excel in his hearing, but right now we are not going to know that.
I just ask my colleagues: What are they afraid of? Are they afraid the citizens of America will be able to see this fine judge and how smart he is or how he answers questions? As my friend Senator Angus King has said, are they afraid they would like him too much?
I do not understand why we simply cannot have a hearing. I had to put myself--I think, well, what would happen if we had a Republican President and a Democratic Senate, what would I do? I have clearly thought this through, as a lawyer and as someone who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, and know I would say we have to have a hearing because the Constitution says our duty is to advise and consent. It doesn't say advise and consent after a Presidential election or whenever it is convenient. It says advise and consent.
I am hopeful my colleagues are listening to us, that they will find it within themselves to allow this great judge, this great jurist a hearing. I was there in the Rose Garden when President Obama nominated him. I saw him tear up, and I thought to myself, not only is this a monumental moment in his own life, to be nominated for the highest Court of the land, but perhaps he was tearing up because he knew the burden he was carrying, one man, on his shoulders, the burden of carrying forward the American tradition of an independent judiciary, this simple concept that politics isn't supposed to dictate our processes, that our Founding Fathers set out three co-equal branches of government. Our job in the Senate is to make sure the judiciary is funded so it can function, our job is to pass laws they then look at and apply when there are questions about those laws, and our job is to advise and consent on nominees to the Federal judiciary.
So let's get our act together and do our job.
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I wish to take just a few minutes to give a brief tribute to someone I know well, Patty Wetterling, and to her family. They are longtime Minnesota residents. Patty and I know each other well. We actually ran against each other for the Senate in 2005, and out of that experience we came to be very good friends.
Patty Wetterling is a woman of unbelievable courage. Her son Jacob was kidnapped at gunpoint 27 years ago. All that time she has kept the hope alive that he would be found. She knew it was a small hope, but, as we know, there have been cases in America where missing children are found 10 years, 20 years later, and that is what she was hoping for.
This past week, those dreams were dashed, as a very evil man came forward to law enforcement--he was already in captivity--and admitted to this crime and brought law enforcement to Jacob's remains.
The story, which I will not put on the record, is a horrific one, but I think the most poignant moment in this horrible story were Jacob's last words, which were: What did I do wrong?
This little boy did nothing wrong. He was an 11-year-old riding his bicycle in his town, in a very rural part of Stearns County, MN, where things are supposed to be safe. Well, they weren't safe that day. The amazing part of this story is not only the memory of this little boy, but it is how for years Patty Wetterling and her family have turned their grief into action.
Understandably, many people try to hang tight to their family. She has done that. She has been a great mom, but she went beyond that. She served on the board of directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She has been a nationally recognized educator on child abduction and the sexual exploitation of children. She and her husband cofounded the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center to educate communities about child safety issues and to prevent child exploitation and abduction. She served for more than 7 years as director of the Sexual Violence Prevention Program for the Minnesota Department of Health. She was named one of the ``100 Most Influential Minnesotans of the Century'' by one of our newspapers.
She has kept this hope alive, but what is amazing about it is, she has saved other lives. A number of bills, legislation--including the sexual predator registration--have come out of the work, better collaboration between local and Federal law enforcement. She has saved so many lives in Jacob's memory.
Senator Franken and I are going to be putting a resolution on the record today on this topic, but I just wanted to take a moment personally to recognize Patty for her strength, her courage, and her grace.
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