WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday regarding the Federal Judiciary:
“Today, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are holding a hearing that’s ostensibly about ‘Supreme Court Ethics Reform.’
“Really, it’s just another chapter in Washington Democrats’ three-decade-long campaign to undermine the federal judiciary at any cost.
“There were the absurd smear campaigns aimed at jurists like Robert Bork and Janice Rogers Brown.
“There were the uncorroborated accusations held back for last-minute surprises against the nominations of Justice Thomas and Justice Kavanaugh.
“There was the silly attempt at a boycott by Democrats on the Committee who didn’t want to engage with Justice Barrett.
“Washington Democrats apparently find a textualist Court that upholds our written Constitution to be a mighty unappealing proposition. They’ve made that clear for thirty-plus years.
“And in the last few years, their hostility has reached reckless new highs.
“A sitting Senator stirring up crowds from the steps of the Court, naming Justices who would pay the price…
“Unhinged activists marching on Justices’ family homes, publishing the locations of their children’s schools, and fueling a frenzy that had one unstable person literally plotting to assassinate a member of the Court…
“Attorney General Garland simply refusing to enforce clear federal law and stop illegal mob protests at judges’ homes.
“Now we’ve got the next raft of silly personal attacks.
“This time, the left and some of their media allies want the American people to gasp in horror that one Supreme Court Justice vacations with his friends… that another one sold his house when he moved… and that Chief Justice Roberts’s wife has a career outside the home!
“The Democrats even tried to pressure Chief Justice Roberts to trade the Supreme Court for their kangaroo court and show up in person today to hear them grandstand. A totally inappropriate request, as the Chief’s polite and fact-based reply made clear.
“For goodness’ sake, we now have Senate Democrats openly threatening to de-fund the Court’s budget by the exact amount they need for security to protect the Justices and their families… if the Justices don’t reorganize internal affairs the way some Democrats want.
“Every five minutes, the Democratic Party wants to give lectures about upholding our institutions and protecting democracy. But just as often, they find a way to undertake some new reckless attack against the courts and the rule of law.
“I’m proud of how our nation’s highest Court has weathered these latest baseless attempts to attack its authority.
“I believe in the integrity and honesty of all nine Justices.
“They should pay the partisan grandstanding no mind at all.”