Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, this week, the Senate will continue to fill vacancies across the Federal bench.

This afternoon, we will vote to confirm Paul Matey to be U.S. Circuit Court Judge for the Third Circuit, and then we will move to the nomination of Neomi Rao for a seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals-- the seat that was vacated by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Throughout her career, Ms. Rao has served in all three branches of government. She clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Harvie Wilkinson on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. She also worked here in the Senate on the Judiciary Committee for then-Chairman Orrin Hatch.

She has worked as Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and in her current position as Administrator for the Office of Administration and Regulatory Affairs--one of the most important and least understood Federal Agencies.

In addition to her outstanding career in public service, Ms. Rao was also an associate professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and is a leading scholar in the field of administrative law.

Knowing her impressive background, it was no surprise to see that the American Bar Association, once hailed by the minority leader as the "gold standard by which judicial candidates are judged,'' rated her as "well qualified.''

When considering this particular seat, it is hard to imagine anyone better prepared. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has sometimes been referred to as the "second highest court in the land'' and is unique because its caseload is disproportionately weighted toward administrative law and litigation involving the Federal Government.

Despite her outstanding qualifications, our Democratic colleagues have attempted to tank Ms. Rao's nomination over decades-old writings. That sounds pretty familiar, although, as I recall, Justice Kavanaugh was excoriated for things in his high school yearbook. At least we have moved on to college when it comes to Ms. Rao.

During her confirmation hearing last month, critics reverted back to that Kavanaugh playbook and began criticizing her for things she wrote in college rather than asking her productive questions about maybe what she has learned since that time or how her views may have changed or how she has functioned as head of the OIRA or how her office has reduced regulatory costs by more than $23 billion. Instead, critics chose to focus on her decades-old writings in college.

Over the years, Ms. Rao has done what we have all done: She has grown and learned from her experiences. She has repeatedly said that she no longer holds the views that she wrote about back in college.

I believe we should judge a nominee not by views they expressed in high school or college but what they have done since that time as mature adults and professionals. So just add me to the long list of people who believe Neomi Rao should be confirmed for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Two dozen former Supreme Court clerks who worked alongside Rao sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee, touting her qualifications. They said:

Many of us have worked in government, at both the federal and state levels, some for Democrats and some for Republicans. . . . While our professional and personal paths may have diverged, one of things we have always shared is admiration for Neomi. We are confident she will serve our country well on the DC Circuit.

We have seen similar letters from her classmates at both Yale and the University of Chicago Law School, as well as a group of more than 50 of her former law students.

Her former students wrote:

Our views span the political spectrum; we have differing positions on the role and work of the Federal judiciary; and we have gone on to work in law firms, government, public interest organizations, and judges' chambers. Yet despite her differences, we all agree that Professor Rao would make an outstanding addition to the bench. We have no doubt that, if confirmed, she would be a brilliant and fair arbiter of the cases that came before her.

I agree.

I supported Ms. Rao's nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I will once again look forward to supporting her nomination when the full Senate votes on her nomination this week.

Freedom of Information Act

Mr. President, on another matter, this Saturday will mark the 268th birthday of James Madison, the Father of the Constitution and an ardent advocate for open government.

It is no coincidence that near his birthday each year, we also celebrate something called Sunshine Week--a time to promote transparency in government and access to public information.

I have always been proud of the fact that Texas is known for having one of the strongest and most robust freedom of information laws in the country. As attorney general of Texas for 4 years, it was my privilege to enforce those laws.

We strive to maintain an open and honest government. Not only does it keep citizens in the know, it also helps keep government accountable.

As we all know, Justice Brandeis famously said: "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.'' When I came to Washington, I wanted to bring that same Texas sunshine to the national level.

During my time in the Senate, I have made government transparency a priority, and I have pressed for more openness in the Federal Government through commonsense legislation.

Over the last decade-plus, my closest ally in that effort has been my friend and colleague from Vermont, Senator Pat Leahy. Some people consider us to be the odd couple when it comes to this topic because Senator Leahy is on the other end of the political spectrum.

As a conservative, I think if people act in government as if their actions are going to be known and available to the people they work for--the taxpayers--it really changes their behavior. It doesn't require Congress or the government to pass more regulation or more laws to get them to do what they know they should do if they knew that what they were doing was going to be made public; hence, my support for the Freedom of Information Act and public information law.

Senator Leahy and I have worked so well together because we understand that this is not a Republican or Democratic issue. We both recognize that whether it is a Republican administration or a Democratic administration, everyone wants to trumpet their successes and hide their failures. That is just human nature. But in order for our government to run well and the American people to trust that it is running well, we need transparency and the accountability that goes along with it.

Safeguarding our right to public information is the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. FOIA serves not as a weapon but as a shield, protecting the American people from a government that may seek to abuse its power or conceal fraud and abuse.

In the more than 50 years since FOIA was first enacted, we have seen a tug of war taking place in both Republican and Democratic administrations, with some favoring more openness and others favoring less. That is why it is so important that we fight here in the Senate to ensure that the balance doesn't tilt away from transparency.

This is a great opportunity both to reflect on the important steps we have taken in the past and to recommit ourselves to the ongoing important work that we still need to do.

I believe the most significant legislation Senator Leahy and I shepherded during our work together is the FOIA Improvement Act, which became law in 2016. It required government Agencies to operate under a presumption of openness when considering whether to release government information.

It also aimed to reduce the overuse of exemptions to withhold information from the public and to minimize the bureaucracy in the FOIA request process by requiring the creation of a single portal through which individuals can submit a request to any Agency.

On top of that, that legislation required Agencies to proactively disclose documents that are likely to be of public interest in order to increase access to government documents outside the often bureaucratic and onerous FOIA request process. In other words, we built upon the work of our Founding Fathers and what they recognized hundreds of years ago: A truly self-governing people depends upon an informed citizenry to hold their elected leaders accountable.

While that was a big step in improving government accountability, our work, of course, is not done. I continue to look for new opportunities to improve the Freedom of Information Act process and to ensure that it remains robust and workable for all of our citizens.

I will continue to advocate for policies in the Senate that build on a more transparent government and bring more of that Texas sunshine to Washington, DC. I hope this Sunshine Week we can all grow even more committed to the mission of open and honest government that serves its people and not itself.

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