Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here to oppose the nomination of Kyle Duncan to be a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit. The court of appeals for that circuit and every other in our country is supremely important not only to people who live in its direct jurisdiction but for all people of our country. Courts of appeals make decisions that are binding on district courts in that jurisdiction and also have an impact on other judges and courts throughout the country at every level.

From day one, the Trump administration has made attacking basic civil liberties a guiding principle of the policies it supports, including its judicial nominees. It is inexcusably seeking to turn back the clock on the progress we have made. We fought back hard against these arcane and irrational policies, but President Trump's attempt to stack our courts with extremist judges may, in the end, have the most long- lasting and devastating impact on our Nation. That is why I am here today, with many of my colleagues, to sound the alarm on Kyle Duncan. He has been nominated to this court, but he has made a career of seeking to turn back policies that protect the most vulnerable members of our country.

He is out of mainstream. In fact, he is out of the stream entirely. His views are extreme, fringed, and, collectively, they make him unfit to be a judge on this court that I greatly respect. Out of respect to members of the court, we should confirm someone only if they meet high standards.

Kyle Duncan has attacked the voting rights of minority groups--in one case, even defending a law that a Federal circuit court said targeted African-American voters with ``almost surgical precision.'' He has attacked the rights of same-sex couples, leading several efforts against marriage equality. He has attacked the rights of the transgender community to be safe in their schools and communities. He has attacked protections for Dreamers, making it harder for them to obtain documentation, such as simple driver's licenses.

Over and over, he has attacked women's rights and women's health in a way that I think disqualifies him for this court. Like so many other nominees before him, Kyle Duncan is an anti-choice zealot who has shown time and again that he is more worried about pushing his personal ideology than faithfully upholding the Constitution. His views on women's rights and women's healthcare are more than morally repugnant; they are downright dangerous.

In fact, Kyle Duncan has led the charge in defending unconstitutional and unnecessary laws that target abortion providers, attempting to legislate them out of existence with little regard for the women who will be harmed as a result. These laws, which have spread around the country at an alarming rate, serve no medical purpose. They put barriers between women and the care they need and deserve. Twice--twice--Mr. Duncan has falsely argued that these restrictions targeting abortion providers in Louisiana and Texas were ``medically reasonable'' and based on ``solid medical ground.'' These laws were rightly struck down both times. Indeed, these laws are the opposite of medically reasonable. In no way are they based on medical ground. With this nominee's enthusiastic support, these unconstitutional State-level restrictions have proliferated, shutting down women's healthcare providers, delaying much needed care, and putting women's health at risk.

Kyle Duncan's peddling of misinformation as a lawyer fighting for these unnecessary and unconstitutional abortion laws is frightening enough. Imagine what he could do on the bench.

He has fought to undo historic healthcare victories provided by the Affordable Care Act's birth control mandate. As we know in this Chamber--and I think we need to acknowledge--this mandate has made a difference in the lives of an astonishing 64.2 million women who were able to access birth control with no out-of-pocket costs in the last year alone. This has given women greater power over their health, their well-being, their futures, their reproductive decisions, and their finances.

Yet Mr. Duncan has attacked the birth control mandate repeatedly. He sought to leave a woman's right to access affordable healthcare to the whims of her employer. Worse, he has absurdly denied that contraception is healthcare at all and has said the idea of contraception as a right is ``disturbing.'' It is a constitutional right. To him, it is disturbing. What kind of a judge will he be?

Despite what Kyle Duncan believes, birth control is healthcare. A woman's access to it is a right, and his false, ideologically driven assaults are wrong.

I will oppose Kyle Duncan's nomination to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Thank you.

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