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“This is about ensuring justice, it’s about ensuring fairness and it’s about ensuring freedom for all Americans…We must continue confirming well-qualified judges who will secure our freedoms and our future.”

Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke on the Senate floor about the Republicans’ record number of judicial appointments, and why these appointments are so crucial for the next generation.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“I come to the floor today to discuss Republicans’ historic record of confirming judges and why it matters to our country.

“It’s because the rulings of these judges affect all Americans.

“The Republican-led Senate has seated President Trump’s highly qualified judicial nominees at lightning speed.

“These judges respect and uphold the rule of law. And this week the Senate marks a major milestone by confirming the 200th Trump judicial nominee.

“Now the appeals court nominations and confirmations are especially critical.

“These are the circuit courts, and they rank right below the Supreme Court.

“Their decisions have a major impact on our nation.

“With the confirmation of Cory Wilson to the 5th Circuit, we have now filled all 53 appeals court vacancies that existed in the United States. There is not a single vacancy at that court level in America.

“We have changed the makeup of powerful appeals courts like the 2nd, the 3rd, the 9th and the 11th circuits.

“Seven of the 12 U.S. circuit courts are now at a point where they have a majority of Republican-appointed judges.

“The 200 judges that we have seated represent a sea change, a generational change on the federal bench.

“These, I remind you, are lifetime appointments. So they will decide cases for decades.

“Let me assure people who are tuning in today: These judges will apply the law as written. They will not legislate from the bench. We’ve had enough of that.

“Republicans are stemming this liberal judicial tide that we’ve lived with in the past.

“We’re delivering on our promise to promote an independent judiciary.

“This concept is key to upholding our Constitution’s separation of powers and our systems of checks and balances.

“Simply put, it is the glue holding our democracy together. The Constitution limits the power of the judiciary.

“Only Congress makes law, not the courts. That’s not the way some courts like to operate.

“The courts interpret the law as a separate, co-equal and independent branch of government. That’s what the Constitution tells us.

“The judge’s job is to follow the law ¬– period.

“Yet for decades Democrats have hijacked the courts.

“They’ve sought to make their preferred policies through something known as judicial activism. Activist judges have used the bench to make liberal laws or interpret laws in a very liberal way.

“Rather than decide cases impartially, liberal judges have a habit of playing politics, favoring the left.

“The result has been a slew of radical rulings.

“These include promoting onerous over-regulation that hurt farmers. And blocking the president’s efforts to secure the border.

“Republicans are replacing these liberal activist judges with Trump-appointed constitutional conservatives. These judges are ruling right now all across the nation.

“So if you ask how are they making a difference?

“Well they’re doing it by protecting our constitutional rights, by safeguarding our individual freedoms and by checking unbridled government power.

“These judges are blocking federal overreach. They’re preventing Washington bureaucrats from inventing endless rules. They’re upholding pro-life precedent. And recognizing the right to school choice.

“They’re defending the second amendment, securing the border and protecting our first amendment rights, including free speech and religious liberty.

“Above all, Republican-appointed judges are applying the law as written. They are not making law from the bench.

“This has Democrats worried.

“Democrats are worried that they are losing control of the courts.

“Senator Schumer, the minority leader, is so worried in fact that he even threatened harm to Supreme Court justices who don’t rule his way.

“He recently stood outside the Supreme Court and he yelled at the court building and the justices inside. He mentioned judges by name and said: ‘You have released a whirlwind, and you will pay the price!’

“This is how the left tends to operate – intimidation. Do what we say they say, give us control they say, and then the intimidation will stop.

“They’re threatening the independence of the judiciary in other ways as well.

“Democrats have announced their plans to pack the Supreme Court. They have announced they will pack the court with justices friendlier to their causes.

“The standard, we all know for the Supreme Court, is nine justices. In fact, it’s been nine justices since 1869, so for over 150 years.

“Yet they want to change this long-standing precedent by actually increasing the number of Supreme Court justices. Taking it from nine to eleven. Some are proposing going to thirteen, if a Democrat is elected president and they have control of the Senate.

“Let us be clear: Court packing amounts to deck stacking by the far-left.

“Democrats want to regain power, tip scales of justice, and deliver their left-wing agenda any way they can.

“If Democrats win the election, as they have threatened, they will pack and stack the court with impunity.

“So the stakes in this upcoming election could not be higher.

“The next president will appoint maybe more than 60 circuit court judges and possibly another Supreme Court justice.

“This is about ensuring justice, it’s about ensuring fairness and it’s about ensuring freedom for all Americans.

“Republicans through today confirming our 200th judge to the courts are stemming this liberal judicial tide.

“We have delivered generational change on the bench.

“We must continue confirming well-qualified judges who will secure our freedoms and our future.”

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