Mr. President, I rise today in opposition to the nomination of Kenneth Lee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Lee has been nominated to a California seat on the Ninth Circuit over the objections of Senator Harris and myself. Neither Senator Harris nor I returned blue slips for Mr. Lee; yet the majority moved forward with his nomination, disregarding our concerns. In doing so, the majority is violating Senate norms and traditions by--for the first time ever--ignoring the lack of a blue slip from the Judiciary Committee's ranking member. Let me repeat: This has never been done before. There was no need to proceed with Mr. Lee's nomination over our objections. As has been true of many of my Democratic colleagues, Senator Harris and I made it clear to the Trump administration that we were ready to work with the White House to find a consensus pick for this and two other Ninth Circuit California seats. Sadly, our willingness to work with the administration has not been reciprocated. Once again, the majority is insisting on moving ahead with a nomination, despite the strong objections of both home-State Senators. Senator Harris and I refused to return blue slips for Mr. Lee for two key reasons. First, Mr. Lee has a long record of controversial writings and statements on race and diversity, immigration, affirmative action, women's rights, and other issues. Second, Mr.…
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