Mr. President, I wish to speak about Harvard law professor David Barron's nomination to the First Circuit. I will do so by addressing some aspects of Professor Barron's record I find particularly troubling. At the end of the day, I believe his record reveals a nominee who simply doesn't belong on the Federal bench. I will also update my colleagues on the efforts to withhold material relevant to this nominee from the American public, as well as, it appears, from the Senate. Unfortunately, the White House continues its refusal to confirm that it has provided the full Senate with all Barron-related drone materials. As I stated 2 weeks ago, every Senator should be provided access to any and all Barron memos related to the drone issue, but before I turn to Barron's drone materials, I will discuss with my colleagues some of the other problematic aspects of this nominee's record. I have reviewed the record. It is a record of legal reasoning and policy positions that are far outside the mainstream of legal thought. Professor Barron's record is even outside the mainstream of typically left-wing legal thought that we see in so many of our law schools. It is a record that reveals Professor Barron's judicial philosophy. While that judicial philosophy may be appropriate for the ivory towers of academia, it has no place on a Federal appellate court.…
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