“I plan to continue to look into his record and listen to people who know him best. I plan to sit down and talk with him. Everything I have seen so far tells me that this is someone who is exactly the kind of justice we need on the Supreme Court.”

Click here  to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) recently spoke on the Senate floor about President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“Last week President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

“People have begun looking over his extensive record, and he has been getting rave reviews around the country.

“Just look at a few of the headlines we’ve seen across the country.

“The New York Times actually had this headline: ‘A conservative stalwart wins praise for his intellect and civility.’

“The Wall Street Journal said ‘Trump’s nominee will be an intellectual leader on the bench.’

“The Detroit News said his record suggests ‘he will maintain a commitment to interpreting the law as it is written, and not how he may wish it had been crafted.’

“Well, that’s exactly what Americans should be looking for in a Supreme Court justice.

“A judge’s job is to apply the law, not to rewrite it.

“People looking at Judge Kavanaugh’s record are reaching the conclusion that he knows the right way to approach this very important job.

“It’s not just newspapers that are singing the praise of Judge Kavanaugh.

“Legal scholars are lining up to commend his independence and his wisdom as a judge.

“Some of them are extremely liberal that he’s worked with over the years.

“They just respect him that much as a judge who they find has been devoted to the law and to the Constitution. Imagine that.

“There’s a law professor from Yale who wrote an op-ed for the New York Times last week titled ‘A liberal’s case for Brett Kavanaugh.’

“The professor called Judge Kavanaugh ‘a superb nominee,’ and said ‘it is hard to name anyone with judicial credentials as strong as those of Judge Kavanaugh.’

“Another liberal law professor called him a ‘highly qualified mainstream conservative judge.’

“He cited Judge Kavanaugh’s reasoning as ‘an example of the judging ideal, setting aside ideology and party politics, and just trying to get the law right.’

“That’s a liberal law professor.

“He said Judge Kavanaugh gives ‘an independent judiciary the job it is supposed to do: interpret the law.’

“There are lawyers who appear before judges in court and there are lawyers who appeared before Judge Kavanaugh who’ve say the same thing.

“There are surveys of these lawyers – people who have won cases, people who have lost cases – they put up their ideas of what they thought about the judge afterwards.

“Across the board, they called him ‘an excellent judge.’

“They say that he ‘has a history of excellent legal argument and analysis.’

“One lawyer actually said ‘it is daunting and humbling to be in front of that brainpower.’

“This was an anonymous survey of lawyers who appeared before Judge Kavanaugh.

“So it wasn’t the people just trying to kiss up to the judge, win favor in a case that appeared before him.

“They’re just telling it like it is.

“‘Excellent legal judgement’ they say.

“If you look beyond the courtroom, people are just as willing to talk about Judge Kavanaugh’s character as a person, not just a judge.

“The Washington Post even ran a piece by a woman who knows Judge Kavanaugh because he coaches her daughter’s basketball team.

“She wrote the she was impressed by ‘his traits of personal kindness, leadership, and willingness to help when called on.’

“There are three things I look for in a nominee for the Supreme Court: judicial philosophy, a strong intellect, and a solid character.

“What we are hearing is overwhelming evidence from people who know him that Judge Kavanaugh has all of these qualities. He is someone who takes the law and the Constitution at face value.

“The Constitution is a legal document, not a living document, and it was built for certainty. He knows that a judge's job is to interpret the law,' not to legislate from the bench, not to make the law or make policy.

“That is what he actually said in a speech last year.

“He has an extremely strong intellect, and I can't imagine there is anyone out there who can deny that. `It is daunting and humbling to be in front of that brainpower--this is what one of the lawyers who appeared before him said. And he is a person of solid character.

“That is what we are hearing from people who have known him over the years from being extremely active in the community.

“The New York Times summarized it: ‘A conservative stalwart wins praise for his intellect and civility.’

“So what is there for Democrats to come to the floor and object to? Why are they objecting to all of this? Why are some Democrats already saying they oppose a judge known for his intellect and civility? They were actually saying it before he was even named by President Trump.

“Whomever President Trump names, they are going to vote no. It is astonishing to see Democrats making that decision. Then they are asking for reams and reams of documents after they have already said they are against Judge Kavanaugh. What are they looking for? It is amazing.

“That is what I believe the big difference is between Republicans and Democrats in Washington: Republican Presidents choose judges and justices to follow the law; Democratic Presidents seem to pick judges and justices who are guaranteed to push liberal policies and liberal agendas, preconceived notions of how they should rule on a case before they hear the facts.

“They know the way they are going to go, maybe using things like emotion, sympathy, and empathy. The Constitution is a legal document.

“Even though you have legal experts from around the political world and around the spectrum of all sides of the aisle who praise his intellect and civility, it is not good enough for the liberal activists in this country.

“They don't even want to consider Judge Kavanaugh's qualifications, and they have said it here on the floor of the Senate and on television, if you listen. They are already making opposition to his nomination a liberal litmus test for Democrats in this Senate, and I am sorry to say that more than a few Democrats seem to be playing along.

“We have seen Democrats in the Senate who have already said that they don't care about Judge Kavanaugh's intellect; they don't care that he is just trying to get the law right.

“They don't care that, as one lawyer said, it is hard to name anyone with judicial credentials as strong as those of Judge Kavanaugh.'

“When you have someone with these qualifications, senators ought to be looking at his record. They should look at the 300 decisions he has written in 12 years on the bench. It is absolutely the right thing to look at.

“They should meet him and talk with him.

“We have just begun this confirmation hearing process. I hope that more Democrats in the Senate will have an open mind about this nominee.

“I hope they will consider the kind of person we should have on the Supreme Court and then make their decisions about whether Judge Kavanaugh has those qualities. From what I have seen, he absolutely does.

“I plan to continue to look into his record and listen to people who know him best. I plan to sit down and talk with him.

“Everything I have seen so far tells me that this is someone who is exactly the kind of
justice we need on the Supreme Court.”

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