Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for the information of all of our colleagues, there were two very significant developments today.

This morning, the Judiciary Committee reported out Judge Kavanaugh favorably. All 11 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee voted in favor of reporting him out with a favorable recommendation. No. 2, we will shortly move to proceed to the Kavanaugh nomination, and I am pleased to announce that all 51 Republican Members of the Senate support the motion to proceed to the nomination. One hundred percent of the Republican conference supports proceeding to the Kavanaugh nomination.

Now, in committee, they reviewed the most pages of documents ever produced pertaining to any Supreme Court nomination--literally, hundreds of judicial opinions from his tenure on the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and 5 days of hearings during which Judge Kavanaugh testified for nearly 40 hours. Judge Kavanaugh testified on every topic, from complicated legal subjects to sensitive personal matters, and there were statements and testimony from countless personal friends, classmates, coworkers, former clerks, and other associates.

So the picture that has emerged from all of this is clear: Judge Kavanaugh is one of the most qualified and most impressive Supreme Court nominees in the history of our country.

He has excelled at the highest levels of legal scholarship. He holds two degrees from Yale and, for years, has lectured at Harvard Law School. He has issued more than 300 legal opinions from what is widely considered the second highest court in the Nation. Several have subsequently been cited in the Supreme Court's own majority opinions. Along the way, he has built an outstanding reputation within the legal community for his clear and thoughtful writing and his exemplary, fairminded judicial temperament.

Judge Kavanaugh's qualifications have been affirmed by his peers and by renowned legal scholars from across the ideological spectrum. One self-described liberal Democrat who advised him at Yale Law School said that Judge Kavanaugh ``commands wide and deep respect among scholars, lawyers, and jurists.''

This praise has been echoed by hundreds of character witnesses who have testified before the Senate or written us letters to praise Judge Kavanaugh's personal character and his integrity in the strongest terms.

The committee has also thoroughly investigated the last-minute allegations that have been brought forward. The evidence that has been produced either fails to corroborate these accusations or, in fact, support Judge Kavanaugh's unequivocal denial, and, in some cases, the accusers have even recanted their baseless allegations.

All in all, this is a nominee who has received what many have considered the gold standard of judicial qualification--a rating of unanimously ``well qualified'' from the American Bar Association.

So this is a nomination that deserves to move forward, and that is precisely what is happening.

I commend our colleagues on the committee for sending this impressive nominee here to the floor with a favorable recommendation.

Now we will keep the process moving. The full Senate will begin consideration of Judge Kavanaugh's nomination today.

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