Mike Lee

I look forward to working with you on this committee in my capacity as vice chair.

I think everyone here agrees that mining companies and industrial producers need to be liable, need to be responsible for any disasters they create for superfund sites they create, that, of course, have to be cleaned up.

My concern is that our current regulatory regime makes it very, very difficult for anybody to do anything.

What needs to happen to become more efficient in processing these claims?

So I would think, in your position, in terms of investigating and making sure they are compliant, that is not their decision.

You really need to take a long look in the mirror if one day you find yourself attacking nuns.

When our judges do not respect this limited power, they take from the American people the right to govern themselves.

Our constitutional republic is also designed around the notion that the people, acting through their representatives, retain ultimate authority to govern.

The people in this country are sovereign, as Lincoln said. It is a government by the people, for the people.

If your focus is on their identity, the focus is likely to be different.

Judge Gorsuch's opinions reflect the principle Justice Scalia spent his career defending, that in a democracy the people's elected representatives, not judges, get to decide what the laws should be and what laws we should have.

I do not think it would ever be fair to say that someone litigating against the Federal Government is anything other than the little guy.

What you are seeing here is the confluence that occurs by operation of the Constitution between law and politics.

An intrusive Federal Government cannot interfere with the ability of Western States to govern themselves.

You are not there to promote a personal agenda or a political agenda, and you are not there to grandstand.

The confirmation process has become political.

In fact, it does not get much more little guy than a David going against a Goliath that is the Federal Government.

I find it striking and very revealing that one of the first calls that Judge Gorsuch made when he received this nomination was to Merrick Garland, his friend.

It would be unfair for anyone to state or to imply that you then are responsible somehow for the expressive conduct of third parties.

Some of us have been alarmed by Executive overreach and the threat it poses to the separation of powers.

These days it seems like standing for a confirmation hearing in the United States Senate after being nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States can appear a little bit like running for political office.

It is the people who are sovereign, and the people's branch is the legislative branch.

A judge's job is not to protect the little guy or the big guy.

Judges are not free to rewrite statutes to get results they believe are more just.

I look forward to working with him and with other members of this committee and other members of the Senate to help move that forward.