Senator Ernst: ‘I urge my colleagues to put aside partisan gimmicks and games and support the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh’

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) spoke on the floor of the Senate in support of the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. The full transcript of the Senator’s remarks can be found below.

“I rise today to voice my support for the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States.

“As the final arbiter of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the sacred duty of ensuring equal justice under the law to the American people.  The Supreme Court wields the immense power of judicial review.  Alexis de Tocqueville described this power of the Supreme Court when he called it “a more imposing judicial power than was ever constituted by any other people.”

“As members of the Senate, it is not often that we get the opportunity to give our advice and consent on the confirmation of Supreme Court justices. It is even rarer that we get the opportunity to confirm someone as highly qualified and well-respected as Brett Kavanaugh.

“I am especially impressed by Judge Kavanaugh’s interpretation of the Constitution as it applies to the ever encroaching power of federal agencies.

“Even before the people of Iowa sent me to Washington, I was horrified by the impact of increasingly burdensome regulations imposed on hardworking men, women, and businesses across America by unleashed federal bureaucrats.

“An excellent example of this is the infamous Waters of the United States rule promulgated by the Obama EPA. The Obama administration’s bloated definition of the waters of the U.S. would have put 97 percent of Iowa under EPA jurisdiction.  Even a tire track filled with water on an Iowa farm would have been subject to federal regulation. 

“Federal agencies have been allowed to implement such destructive regulations in part due to the Supreme Court giving them deference. While a certain degree of deference is needed, I am concerned that a too broad deferential standard separates the people of the United States from Washington bureaucrats.  It fails to place an adequate check on executive and administrative power.

“Throughout his career as both a highly respected legal scholar and a judge on the esteemed D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Kavanaugh has written critically of widening the scope of this already far-reaching deferential standard.  He wrote, in part, that this deference “encourages the Executive Branch to be extremely aggressive in seeking to squeeze its policy goals into ill-fitting statutory authorizations and restraints.”

“This could not have been what the founders intended when they developed our Constitution and our government.

“I could not agree more with Judge Kavanaugh’s concerns.  And I look forward to the Judge’s levelheaded leadership and thinking on the Supreme Court.

“In addition, I was proud to hear that Judge Kavanaugh has had the chance to work with Iowans.  State Representative Mary Ann Hanusa, who represents the city of Council Bluffs, had the opportunity to work with Judge Kavanaugh when he served as Staff Secretary in the White House.

“Representative Hanusa describes Judge Kavanaugh as hardworking, dedicated, and impartial in his duties.  All traits that I require in a Supreme Court justice.

“Under Chairman Grassley’s leadership, I believe that we will have a thorough, timely, and successful confirmation process, just as we did with Neil Gorsuch. I urge my colleagues to put aside partisan gimmicks and games and support the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.”

Click here or on the image above to watch the speech.