Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I want to take a few moments to talk about what I believe is an excellent choice that President Trump made on Monday, and that is in selecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Judge Kavanaugh's credentials are those of a person very well suited for the U.S. Supreme Court. He excelled as an undergraduate and as a law student at Yale and clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is retiring--the man he would replace--and was also a clerk for two Federal appeals court judges. He served in a very critical position in President George W. Bush's administration.

Beyond his resume is a record of respect and effectiveness. Judge Kavanaugh is highly regarded by his colleagues in the Federal judiciary. I think that says a lot about his potential and his character in terms of potential to become a Supreme Court Justice. He has also impressed others over his long and very prestigious career.

We saw his wonderful family on Monday night. We can tell they are very proud of their dad and their mom, and I was very honored to have the opportunity to meet all of them, along with Judge Kavanaugh's parents.

He has been very effective. As a matter of fact, this Supreme Court has adopted his reasoning in their opinions on 11 separate occasions, and the 300 opinions he has written are frequently cited by Federal judges all across the country.

But perhaps Judge Kavanaugh's most qualifying characteristic is something I heard him say at the White House on Monday evening. When the President announced his nomination, Judge Kavanaugh committed to be open-minded in the cases that come before him as a Supreme Court Justice. Open-minded--I think that is critical, and his record backs up that commitment.

He has a long and clear record of fairly applying the text of our Constitution and our laws. There will be a lot to consider on Judge Kavanaugh because he has such a long and very clear record of writing, and the President mentioned his very precise writing skills.

When I consider nominees for the Supreme Court, I don't look for a person who promises particular policy outcomes or someone who is out to actually create laws; what I look for is a person who reflects experience, fairness, and respect for the Constitution as it is written. That is because the Constitution assigns legislative authority to us, to elected representatives in the Congress. Accountability to the American people is diminished when unelected judges pursue their own policy goals.

A newspaper in the Northern Panhandle of our State, the Wheeling Intelligencer, editorialized today:

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I believe that Judge Kavanaugh and I share the belief that faithfulness to the text of the law as written, not the pursuit of a particular policy outcome, should be the goal of a judge.

In the same speech last year, Judge Kavanaugh discussed his meeting with then-West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd during his confirmation process to the DC Circuit. Most West Virginians and Americans know the reverence that Senator Byrd had for the text of the Constitution. During his speech, Judge Kavanaugh spoke of reading the text of Article I with Senator Byrd. Senator Byrd was among the Democrats who voted to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the DC Circuit. I think Judge Kavanaugh's record on the DC Circuit and his experience merit a bipartisan confirmation process--the same type of bipartisanship that Senator Byrd showed when he voted for Judge Kavanaugh.

For all of the noise and debate outside of this Chamber, the confirmation process for a well-qualified Supreme Court nominee does not have to focus on trying to guess how a Justice Kavanaugh might rule in a particular case. As a matter of fact, I think that will be a futile exercise and quite damaging to the process at the same time. If we are looking for a fair umpire, which we are looking for, there is no reason a nominee with a strong record of applying the text of the Constitution and the law should not be confirmed with overwhelming support.

President Trump made clear in his campaign that he would appoint judges with respect for the Constitution. I believe he kept his commitment when he nominated Brett Kavanaugh to become a Supreme Court Justice.

The process is just beginning where Judge Kavanaugh's record will be scrutinized to the nth degree. We are going to have hearings, and I hope all of us--and I am certainly putting myself in this category-- will have the opportunity--and I think we will--to sit down one-on-one, to talk with Judge Kavanaugh, to make our own judgments about his qualifications and his abilities in terms of becoming a Supreme Court Justice.

I look forward to advancing the process, and I look forward to meeting with Judge Kavanaugh.

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