Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to oppose Kyle Duncan's nomination to serve on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. A review of Mr. Duncan's record--his cases and chosen causes--shows he is a dangerous, ideological nominee who has consistently been on the wrong side of women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and civil rights. Let's start with Mr. Duncan's record that argues against women's rights and reproductive freedom. When he served as the lead counsel in the infamous Hobby Lobby case, he argued that an employer can interfere with a woman's personal healthcare choices. In Texas, he filed a brief that was in favor of abortion restrictions that would have shut down the vast majority of clinics in that State-- restrictions the Supreme Court, ultimately, ruled an ``undue burden'' on a woman's constitutional right to a safe, legal abortion. In my home State of Washington, he filed a brief that argued pharmacies should be allowed to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions for ideological reasons. Fortunately, his views did not prevail. Then there is Mr. Duncan's long record of opposing LGBTQ rights. When it comes to the rights of same-sex couples, he argued against two loving parents who wanted to change their baby's birth certificate so they could add him to their insurance plan. He argued for denying a same-sex spouse her parental visiting rights to the children she had raised for 8 years. He also defended bans on same-sex marriages in Louisiana and Virginia.…”