On the recordMarch 24, 2022
I was disappointed but not surprised that Senator McConnell came to the floor and announced that he would not support the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson, by President Biden, to fill the vacancy of Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court. Just this morning, or early afternoon, we wrapped up the 4-day process in the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider her nomination, and that is why some of the statements which the Senator made in justifying his opposition, I believe, need to be addressed. I will be brief in doing so, but I wanted to make a record of it quickly. It seems that he is concerned, as many Republicans are, with the notion of packing of the Court. The notion behind that is that the Democrats are inspired to appoint some number of new Justices to that Court--maybe four--and, thereby, tip the balance back toward the Democratic side. The question, obviously, before us is, Where does that idea come from? I will be honest with you, even as chairman of the committee, I don't know. I suppose there are some academics and theorists and researchers who believe that is well worthy of conversation, but let's be honest about this issue which seems to consume the Republicans in the Senate. There is only one U.S. Senator who has had a direct impact on the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court in modern memory. Who was that Senator?…
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