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Floor Speech
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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I come to the floor to join so many of my colleagues in expressing my opposition to Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court.
As the highest Court in the land, the Justices on the Supreme Court are tasked with the enormous responsibility of interpreting and protecting the fundamental constitutional rights that are guaranteed to all Americans. Its decisions are not abstract legal principles that are reserved for a few. Its decisions affect the rights of all of us. They touch on issues that affect all of our daily lives--from the healthcare we receive to the person we can marry, to the air we breathe. These are significant stakes that we face when considering any nominee to serve on the Supreme Court.
Weeks ago, I announced my opposition to Judge Kavanaugh's nomination based on concerns I had with his record. Even though--as Senator Markey pointed out so eloquently--we haven't gotten to see a lot of that record, we have enough to know that I have very serious concerns about Judge Kavanaugh. I want to talk about a couple of those and actually highlight three concerns.
First is his opposition to the Affordable Care Act. I believe all Americans in this country--everyone in this country--should have access to healthcare, healthcare they can afford so they don't have to worry when they take their kids to the doctor, so they don't have to worry about being bankrupt because they can't afford the costs, and so they don't have to worry if they develop a serious illness. Yet Judge Kavanaugh dissented in a decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, and as a result of that decision, he puts critical protections for millions of Americans with preexisting conditions at risk.
It is particularly concerning now, when we know there is a court case in Texas which the Government of the United States has declined to continue to defend that puts at risk the requirement that insurance companies cover those with preexisting conditions.
You can talk about trying to bandaid over that any way you want, but the fact is, unless we have a real healthcare program, as we have under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies are not going to cover people with preexisting conditions, and they are going to charge you more if they do cover you.
Second, I am very concerned about his opposition to women's reproductive rights. Judge Kavanaugh has praised Justice Rehnquist's dissent in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that guarantees women's rights to make their own reproductive decisions. I believe that is one of the most basic and fundamental rights we have, not just as women but that families have. Women should be able to make that decision in consultation with their families, with their physicians, according to their religious beliefs, and this should not be something the government dictates. Yet Brett Kavanaugh suggests this fundamental basic right is up for consideration.
Finally, I have a serious concern about Judge Kavanaugh's view of executive branch power that could place the President above the law.
Judge Kavanaugh has said that sitting Presidents can't be indicted, can't be prosecuted, and should have the authority to fire a special counsel at will. Well, with the Mueller investigation, with so many concerns that have been raised about this President's manipulation of laws that have allowed him to enrich himself and his company, where he has been suggesting that he may fire the Attorney General because he is not willing to do his bidding at the Justice Department--I just don't see how we can put somebody on the Supreme Court who thinks that the President is above the law.
As I have learned American history and our Constitution and our values and principles, I believe that nobody is above the law in our democracy, including the President of the United States, and I think we need a Supreme Court Justice who believes the same thing. Yet what we have heard from Judge Kavanaugh suggests that he thinks the President is above the law.
At the time I announced my opposition to the nominee, we had not heard the allegations of sexual assault against Judge Kavanaugh. In the weeks since those allegations have come out, this Senate, this country, have been rocked by those allegations. I was one of the many millions of Americans throughout the country who tuned in to closely watch that hearing when Christine Blasey Ford shared her story. Her testimony in front of the Judiciary Committee was sincere and credible, and I believe her.
The impact of Dr. Ford's testimony is very telling about the pervasiveness of sexual violence in our culture. The allegations made by Christine Ford and others were serious and trustworthy, and I believe they should have been thoroughly and impartially investigated, and they were not.
But on the positive side, Dr. Ford's bravery has given so many women in this country the courage to tell their stories. She gave others courage, and we have seen an outpouring from survivors who now feel as though they, too, can come forward.
Senator Markey talked about the number of people that he has heard from in his office, and I have heard that same story time and again from so many of my colleagues. We are certainly seeing this in New Hampshire. The Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program, which is also called SHARP--a program at the University of New Hampshire that provides services and support to sexual assault survivors--reported an increase in people reaching out for help. I have heard from crisis centers across the Granite State that have fielded an influx of calls from survivors who can relate to Dr. Ford's testimony and who feel compelled to speak out.
On Tuesday, I spoke with the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, which told me that they have seen similar reactions with survivors who are now stepping forward--women and men whose trauma of sexual assaults has been revived by Christine Ford's testimony.
Like my colleagues, I have received letters from sexual assault survivors who have been deeply affected by Dr. Ford's testimony and whose courage has given them the strength to share their own stories. What has been amazing to me as I have read them, when I have heard from people who have contacted our office, is that some of them are in their seventies and eighties, and they reveal decades-old sexual assaults for the very first time.
These wounds are real. The wounds are raw. And it is incumbent on all of us in this body--regardless of where you stand on Brett Kavanaugh-- it is incumbent on all of us to not deepen those scars by diminishing the pain of these women as political theater. This is not political theater, and it should not be viewed through a partisan lens.
In those emotional emails and calls and letters from dozens of women and a few men--I think sometimes we forget that sexual assault doesn't just happen to women; it happens to men--they have described their sexual assaults and how they have been affected by the events of Christine Ford's testimony and the hearing with Judge Kavanaugh. In so many of those letters and emails, they talk about the details of what they experienced in those sexual assaults--how it has affected them; how it has affected their lives; the fact that, in most cases, they didn't tell anybody because they didn't feel they would be believed or they thought they would be demeaned or they thought it was their fault.
What has been interesting to me in those letters and emails has been that so many of the people we have heard from have not just told their personal stories, but they have expressed their concerns about the country as part of writing in--concerns that we are so divided, that we are so angry, that we are so uncivil to one another. Sadly, they are right, based on what they have seen over the last couple of weeks. We have seen that at political rallies over the past few years, and we have seen it in this building. We must do better. The disunity that we model here is hurting the country. The scorched-earth politics that have been practiced here are deepening our divide.
I will oppose Judge Kavanaugh's nomination, and I continue to hope that something may happen at the eleventh hour; I know that is not likely. But I also will encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to think about this moment, to reflect on our obligations to the American people, to the U.S. Senate, and to considering future Supreme Court nominees. So many people have said that this process has undermined the faith of the American people in the ability of the Supreme Court to be an objective arbiter of cases that come before them. This process has inflamed existing divides within our country and within Congress, and we can't let this become the status quo. As an institution, as a legislative body, we must be better than this.
I have always been told that when we are standing at the edge of an abyss, the best step is always backward. So I hope all of us can take a step back. I hope we can take a step back when we are past this nomination, that we can return to a more civil discourse. I hope that we can better try to understand each other's points of view and that we can see each other's humanity. I hope that we can be better stewards of our democracy because this country demands it.
Thank you, Madam President.
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