Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it has been less than a week since the President nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Already, praise has poured in for his legal abilities, professional accomplishments, and personal character.

Some of the most interesting testimony has come from the men and women who may know better than anyone how Judge Kavanaugh approaches his work--his law clerks. You can learn a lot about a leader by asking the men and women who work for and with him. Thirty-four of his past clerks sent an open letter to Chairman Grassley and Senator Feinstein last week.

Their own political and legal views are quite diverse:

Our ranks include Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. But we are united in this: our admiration and fondness for Judge Kavanaugh run deep.

They describe his commitment to legal excellence:

We never once saw him take a shortcut, treat a case as unimportant, or search for an easy answer. Instead, in each case, large or small, he masters every detail and rereads every precedent.

They also compliment the way Judge Kavanaugh conducts himself both inside and outside the courtroom. They call him ``unfailingly warm and gracious, grounded, and kind.'' They describe a ``fundamental humility.''

A subset of those clerks wrote a second letter. It was from every one of Judge Kavanaugh's female clerks whose current employments allowed them to sign it.

These 18 women explain: ``We feel compelled to write separately to convey our uniformly positive experiences with the Judge as a boss on issues of gender and equality in the workplace.''

``In our view,'' they write, ``the Judge has been one of the strongest advocates in the Federal judiciary for women lawyers.''

They explain how Judge Kavanaugh seeks out the best and brightest, how he goes above and beyond to advise and mentor all of his clerks.

Judge Kavanaugh's hiring reflects, in their words, ``rare gender parity.'' Note that I did not say ``equity'' but ``parity''--25 women clerks and 23 men. In 2014, in fact, all four of Judge Kavanaugh's clerks were women--a first for a judge on the DC Circuit. There have been 84 percent of those 25 women who have gone on to Supreme Court clerkships, thanks, in large part, to Judge Kavanaugh's guidance and support.

Here is how they conclude their letter:

As you likely know by now, Judge Kavanaugh has two daughters, Margaret and Liza. If they decide to follow in their dad's--and grandmother's--footsteps and become lawyers, they will enter a legal profession that is fairer and more equal because of Judge Kavanaugh.

We have also heard from Professor Amy Chua, who has served on Yale Law School's clerkship committee for most of the last decade. During that time, 10 Yale Law School graduates have clerked for Judge Kavanaugh, 8 of whom are women.

She emailed them to ask about their experiences. As she explained in the Wall Street Journal, they lauded his work ethic, his commitment to excellence, his humility, and his decency, and ``to a person they described his extraordinary mentorship.''

One woman said:

He's been an incredible mentor to me despite the fact that I am a left-of-center woman. He always takes into account my goals rather than giving me generic advice.

With respect to Judge Kavanaugh's approach to deciding cases, Professor Chua pointed out that he ``actively seeks out clerks from across the ideological spectrum who will question and disagree with him'' because ``he wants to hear other perspectives before deciding a case.''

``Above all,'' she observed, Judge Kavanaugh ``believes in the law and wants to figure out, without prejudging, what it requires.''

Again, we have already heard so many speak up to recommend this impressive nominee.

In the weeks ahead, we will hear more, including from Judge Kavanaugh himself, when our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee conduct hearings on his nomination. Yet I wanted to call special attention today to the warm words of those who have worked with and for Judge Kavanaugh. They have seen firsthand just how rigorously he approaches his work as a judge and how graciously he shares his time and his talent with others. Judge Kavanaugh is certainly an impressive nominee. Tax Reform

Mr. President, on another matter, fueled by American workers and job creators and assisted by the pro-growth policies of this Republican government, our economy continues to surge ahead.

Last week, we examined the Department of Labor's June jobs report, which indicated another month of remarkable growth--213,000 new jobs. On Friday, economists at the Florida Chamber of Commerce announced that the Sunshine State's GDP had surpassed $1 trillion for the first time. That is $1 trillion for the GDP of Florida. If Florida were a sovereign nation, it would be the 17th largest national economy in the world. In the past year, Floridians, alone, have created 182,000 new jobs. It is hard to argue with the facts, but it is even harder to argue with reports that come straight from hard-working Americans.

Last month, during his visit to Duluth, MN, President Trump met with local workers and job creators to discuss tax reform and economic growth in their communities, and he heard them loud and clear. Republican policies are working.

Adam Morse, a production truckdriver for U.S. Steel Minntac, told President Trump that ``the tax plan is working, and I'm seeing a difference in my paycheck.''

Ray Klosowski, Commissioner of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, says that the past year has brought significant steps forward for the port and the jobs it supports. They added a first-ever intermodal freight area, which has allowed Duluth to process containers from the west coast and significantly expand shipping capabilities. There are millions of dollars in new contracts and commitments to hire hundreds of new workers at the port. Mr. Klosowski summed it up, saying:

The customers . . . we've been used to--our old tried-and- true customers--have experienced expansion because of the new tax structure. . . . They're coming to us with more business than we've [ever] seen in the past.

Our Democratic colleagues are still grasping for ways to put a negative spin on all of this good news and the Republican policies that are helping it along. But all around the country, Americans are trying to get their attention so that they can explain just how tax reform, regulatory reform, and the rest of our policy agenda are helping to improve their businesses and their lives.

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