Nomination of Jonathan A. Kobes

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I come to the floor today to oppose Jonathan Kobes' nomination to serve on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. People across the country know how important it is that we fight back against extreme and extremely unqualified judicial nominees.

Earlier this year, during Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation, we saw just how far President Trump and Senate Republicans are willing to go to jam through extreme judges who will work to strip away women's rights.

But that wasn't all we saw. We saw millions of women and men across the country inspired to stand up and fight back against his nomination. We saw people speak out and share their own personal stories about what was at stake, about sexual assault, and how important it is that we believe survivors, and about the right to safe legal abortions, what it means for women and their families, and about what kind of country we want to live in.

We saw, without question, that people across the country want us to stop President Trump from swinging our courts far right by packing them with ideological judges--judges like Mr. Kobes, who will continue the Trump-Pence agenda of rolling back women's rights and access to healthcare.

Making sure families know exactly what Mr. Kobes would mean for women if he is seated is what I am here to do today. It means weaker rights and less access to healthcare.

He is like many of President Trump's nominees before him. Mr. Kobes lacks almost any real experience to qualify him for a seat on the Eighth Circuit Court. He has little trial experience, little appellate experience, and no record of legal scholarship to speak of.

I am not the only one concerned by that. The American Bar Association has rated him unqualified. That makes Mr. Kobes the sixth judicial nominee from President Trump who is opposed by his professional colleagues.

But the thin record he does have is disqualifying because it shows he will put extreme rightwing ideology ahead of women and science. Mr. Kobes is an outspoken advocate for fake women's healthcare centers, sometimes called crisis pregnancy centers, that seek out women looking for information about their healthcare needs and reproductive rights and then use misleading--even blatantly false--propaganda to scare and pressure them. Mr. Kobes even went out of his way to represent some of these fake clinics free of charge.

He voluntarily defended a law requiring providers to give a lecture full of ideological propaganda and fearmongering to women seeking safe, legal abortions. The required lecture in this case actually went so far as to demand that providers lie to women and claim abortion increases their risk of suicide. It does not.

Think about that. He argued for a law that directly interfered with the relationship between a patient and her healthcare provider--a law that said women making their own decisions about their own bodies and seeking healthcare, which is their constitutional right, should be lied to, should be frightened out of a decision with fake information, including fake information about suicide. That is utterly wrong and disqualifying for any judicial nominee.

Mr. Kobes hasn't merely represented these fake clinics. He served on the board of an organization that aimed to deceive and frighten women out of getting abortions. It is clear he wasn't chosen for his bona fides in the legal field. He doesn't have them.

Women and men across the country are paying attention. They know what is at stake. Hours before the final vote on Kavanaugh, I came here to speak about how angry I was when the Senate failed Anita Hill in 1991 and confirmed Justice Thomas, how I decided to run for the Senate after that so I could fight to change things, and how I hoped everyone who was angry about Judge Kavanaugh would stay angry and keep fighting for change. I also promised right here that whatever happened, I was going to get up the next day and keep fighting, too, and I meant it.

I am going to keep standing up, speaking out, and making clear just how harmful the President's ideological nominees are.

I strongly oppose Mr. Kobes' nomination. I hope all of our colleagues will do the same.

Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source