Alex Padilla: “colleagues, what we have seen happening to the Federal judiciary over the last 9 months is beyond concerning; it is…”

“colleagues, what we have seen happening to the Federal judiciary over the last 9 months is beyond concerning; it is corrupting. We have seen nominees who are deeply partisan and deeply ideological. We have seen nominees who, under any other administration, would be roundly criticized and rejected by this body. And we have seen nominees whose chief qualification is nothing other than loyalty to and relationship to Donald Trump. So later today, we are going to consider just the latest example of this when the Senate takes up the nomination of Eric Tung to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This is a lifetime appointment to the Federal bench, colleagues. An appellate court nominee in particular should have the judgment, the independence, and the respect for precedence worthy of the position. But instead, Mr. Tung, the nominee before us, is not here because of his independence or his judicial temperament; he is here because of his ideology. Mr. Tung embraces an extreme and rigid view of the Constitution that rejects both equality and liberty. He has made it clear that under his constitutional philosophy, there is no protection for rights that most Americans take as fundamental, including the rights to reproductive freedom, marriage equality, and even private consensual relationships. That is not constitutional interpretation; it is a radical blueprint for rolling back decades of progress on individual freedom and equality.”