Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I come to the floor to speak in opposition to the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

I want to make a few quick points as we conclude this debate today, and then I want to speak to the people watching who may not believe what the Senate could be headed toward today--who are shocked and angry, frustrated and hurt.

First and foremost, I believe Dr. Ford. I believe her when she shared her experience of being assaulted by Judge Kavanaugh. I believe her because of what she said, and she remembered with 100 percent certainty.

I believe her despite what some Republicans are trying to use to tear her down because I know trauma experts tell us survivors may not remember every single detail of these events.

I believe Republican leaders and President Trump did everything they could to hide the facts and rush this through because they were afraid of what a full investigation would show, and I believe it is simply wrong to rush to a finish on this confirmation based on that alone.

I also believe that what we saw of Judge Kavanaugh's temperament in the hearing last week--his bitter partisanship, his rage, his disrespect--was absolutely disqualifying as well and will undermine the Supreme Court and erode trust in the decisions they make.

I believe the lack of credibility and honesty he demonstrated in his hearings, which I and my colleagues have spoken about at great length, is absolutely disqualifying as well, and this isn't just me saying this. We are hearing an unprecedented outcry on this particular point from lawyers and judges and former clerks and the religious community, and even Supreme Court Justice Stevens. Even setting aside those issues, before Dr. Ford's allegations came out and before we saw more of Judge Kavanaugh in those hearings, I opposed his nomination because it was so clear he was picked by President Trump for a few key reasons.

Specifically, he would overturn Roe v. Wade and gut women's healthcare; he would gut healthcare reform and end protections for patients with preexisting conditions; and he would protect President Trump with his disturbingly expansive view on Presidential power, which is particularly dangerous when we have a President under investigation with members of his campaign and administration going to jail and facing indictments.

That is not all we know about him, but we know those things, and to me that was enough to make my decision. So I do oppose Judge Kavanaugh, and I hope we can do the right thing in the Senate today.

I want to spend the rest of my few minutes this morning making a different point and not just to my colleagues but to the people who are watching from home and across the country because I am very concerned about the message Republican leaders are sending today to women and girls and survivors--the message they are delivering on the Senate floor, at rallies, through the press, and directly to the people.

To Dr. Ford and Ms. Ramirez, and so many other women, girls and survivors, these Republicans are saying your voices don't matter. Your experiences, your trauma, your pain, your heartache, your anger--none of that matters.

Their message is: We don't have to listen. We don't have to care. Sit down. Be quiet. They are sending the message that if you are a woman who was attacked, if you are a survivor, then your experience is just one more ``hiccup'' to ``plow right through'' on the path to get what they want; that if you come forward with your experience, you will be told you are just ``mixed up,'' wrong, lying, or worse.

They are sending a message that you will be asked why you didn't come forward sooner, what you wore, how much you had to drink, what medication you were taking, if you had any history of mental issues, how you got to the party, how you got home; that you will be mocked and undermined, told to ``grow up'' and waved away, and that is just if they can't find a way to sweep you aside and ignore you altogether.

They are sending a message that when it comes to a man who has gone to prestigious schools, who has all the connections, who has spent his entire life setting himself up for this moment, it is his experience that matters, his pain that matters, his future that matters, not yours.

They aren't just sending a message to women and girls and survivors, they are sending a message to men and boys, too, and that is what frightens me just as much. They are sending a message to them that if they attack women, if they hurt people, they are going to be fine; that they may hear that this kind of behavior is wrong, that it is not acceptable, but don't worry, nothing will actually happen to them if they do it.

They can grab women without their consent and brag about it, they can sexually assault women and laugh about it, and they are probably going to even be fine. They can even grow up to be President of the United States or a Justice on the Supreme Court.

That is absolutely wrong.

So I want to send a very different message to women, girls, and survivors: Your voices do matter. Your experiences do matter. There are a whole lot of people who are listening to you, who do hear you, who do believe you. Please, please do not give up and do not stay quiet because no matter what happens today, however this vote goes, your voices are making a difference, maybe not to those Republicans mocking Dr. Ford--they may not want to hear what you have to say--and maybe not to President Trump, but with every story that comes out, every new voice that breaks the silence, we make progress. Every father and mother who learns what happened to their daughter or son all of those years ago that they had never shared before, every son and daughter who hears from their mom and dad about abuse or attacks they faced and never talked about, everyone who hears from a friend, who listens to a coworker, it does make a difference.

We have seen that since the #MeToo movement started more and more. More and more over these past few weeks, stories came out helping people understand how pervasive this is, how this kind of violence is something women have been putting up with for ages, in silence, unheard, seemingly inevitable, a wall placed in front of every girl and woman in this country and how, as more and more people have so bravely spoken up, cracks have begun to appear in that wall.

There are some cracks in how people see the world, people who may have never understood before, who may have never seen the perspective they are learning about more and more now, some cracks in how companies and institutions need to respond, which may have never felt that pressure before. There are some cracks in how men and boys are acting, hearing more and more that this is not OK. It cannot be accepted. It will not be accepted.

Cracks, cracks, and cracks, but clearly today we see the wall still stands.

If Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed, despite all of the outcry and all of the work done, there will be a lot of people who are angry and hurt. I will be one of them. There will be frustration. There will be tears. I will be joining in them. But there will also be a sense that nothing we can do matters; that if someone like Judge Kavanaugh can get a seat on the Supreme Court, we should just give up; that we can't make a difference, we can't matter. That, I will not be a part of.

Here is the message I want to send today: Change is not easy. It never is. We cannot give up the fight, and we cannot be discouraged. My vision, my fight, my passion is to live in a country where my granddaughters can walk down the street, go to a party, live their lives, not live in fear but be treated with respect.

I want to live in a country where my granddaughters can go into a job interview and be judged based on what they can do, not on how they look. I want to live in a country where you can succeed no matter where you were born, what you looked like, or whom you love; if you work hard and treat others right, where you don't have to go to prestigious schools and know powerful people and make the best political connections and go to the right parties. I want to live in a country where if you do all of those things and know all of those people but hurt others and treat people with disrespect, you will pay the price, you will face the consequences.

Clearly, we are not there yet, but I do believe we are making progress. We may not feel it every day, and today is a day when it is hard, but I believe, and my message to everyone watching right now is, don't give up; don't give in; don't think your voice doesn't matter.

When the Senate failed Anita Hill and confirmed Justice Thomas in 1981, I got mad. I decided to run for the Senate. I wouldn't let anyone tell me I had no shot, and I won--and I see that story repeated over and over. People get angry. They start talking about it. They organize it, and sometimes they face their past, but they make a difference. They put more cracks into that wall, but when I hear people give up hope, when they tell me they are ending their fight because they think what they do doesn't matter, I know I am hearing from someone who isn't going to make a difference.

I think of a line I remind myself of all the time: If someone tells you, you can't make a difference, it is usually because they are afraid that you will. They are afraid that you will because it is true. They are petrified because they do know your voice matters--whatever you may think, whatever they may say.

So whatever happens today, I am going to get up tomorrow, and I am going to keep fighting. I am going to keep fighting for the kind of country I want to live in, for the country I want for my granddaughters, for all of our granddaughters and all of our grandsons--a country where someone like Dr. Ford is believed, where she is not attacked; where someone like Judge Kavanaugh doesn't get rushed to the highest Court in the land. I really hope everyone who stood up and spoke out, who is motivated by Dr. Ford and so many others, I hope you are all with me today, tomorrow, and for the fight ahead.

So I urge my colleagues to stand with us, to vote no today, and to keep working with us tomorrow.

Thank you.

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