Sen. Graham good morning. I appreciate you being here promptly. As you know, our Democratic Politics informed the committee they will not participate in the hearing. That was their choice. It will be my choice to vote the nominee out of committee. We are not going to allow them to take over the committee. They made a choice not to participate after allowing judge judgeour days merrick four days to be questioned. I thought she did an exceptionally good job of handling the questions. I thought she was aggressively challenged, but not inappropriately. I want to complement my democratic colleagues for not going down the kavanaugh road. I want to complement the republican members for asking questions that matter to you, but showing a tremendous amount of discipline to make sure that on our side the hearing went well. Each of you, when this is over, hope you feel like a sense of accomplishment. This is why we all run. It is moments like this that make everything you go through matter. Wherem
Watch booktv this weekend on cspan2. Senate debate on Amy Coney Barretts nomination begins at noon eastern. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary committee voted yesterday to move the nomination from the committee to the floor for consideration. Democrats boycotted the vote. The committee voted to authorize subpoenas for the heads of tech and social media companies. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] good morning. I appreciate all of my colleagues being here properly. As you know, our democratic colleagues informed the Committee Last night they will not participate in the hearing. That was their choice. It will be my choice to vote the nominee out of committee. Were not going to allow them to take over the committee. They made a choice not to participate after allowing judge barrett four days, two days to the question. I thought she did an exceptionally good job of handling the questions asked. I thought she was aggressively challenged but not inappropriately. What to co
This is two hours. [inaudible conversations] the committee will come to order. Without objection the chair is authorized to recess the hearing at any time. Beforere we turn to the substance and then members should during these proceedings in light of the cautions by wearing a face cover such as a mask so i urge unless youre speaking to please be wearing a mask. We are also conducting this hearing which affords Additional Space for those who are physically distant so before we get into housekeeping let me give my best wishes to the president and the first lady for a speedy recovery of covid19. We were all quiteor shocked and distressed this morning to learn of their illness and we hope for a speedyy recovery they are very much in our thoughts. The department of Homeland Security leading dhs office of intelligence and analysis referring to the office throughout the hearing left the committee no choice to issue a subpoena for the hearing today from counsel of the client and then the forme
Our recent debates have been heated, but curiously, talk of judge merricks actual credentials or qualifications has hardly featured judge merricks actual credentials or qualifications have early ttsured judge barre actual credentials have rarely featured. They have tried to claim the process itself is not legitimate. These claims are supposed to lay groundwork for radical institution wrecking changes down the road. But of course, they are not true. We live in a constitutional republic. The legitimacy of an outcome does not depend on the feelings it provokes in politicians. Let me say that again. The legitimacy of an outcome does not depend on the feelings it provokes in politicians. Legitimacy comes from precedents, rules, and ultimately, the constitution, so lets restate a few facts for posterity. There is no inconsistency between the republican senators decision in 2016 and our decision to confirm judge barrett this year. Heres what i said in my very first floor speech following the
Sen. Graham good morning. I appreciate you being here promptly. As you know, our democratic my democratic colleagues are not participating, it will be my choice ttee. We are not going to allow them to take over the committee. They made a choice not to participate after allowing judge judgeour days merrick four days to be questioned. I thought she did an exceptionally good job of handling the questions. I thought she was aggressively challenged, but not inappropriately. I want to complement my democratic colleagues for not going down the kavanaugh road. I want to complement the republican members for asking questions that matter to you, but showing a tremendous amount of discipline to make sure that on our side the hearing went well. Each of you, when this is over, hope you feel like a sense of accomplishment. This is why we all run. It is moments like this that make everything you go through matter. Wheremoments like this you can tell young conservative place at the a table for you. Th