Hygiene. Thank you for coming. I hope everybody has disinfectant that they can use. We spaced out the room to be as safe as possible to my staff and minority staff, thank you for working together. We are back, we spent 40 something days since the senate has been able to meet. The committee has a lot to do related to the coronavirus but we have other things for the good of the nationlike filling judicial vacancies or getting comments throughout the country about the vacancies and how they are impacting the ability to deliver justice in various states it will be as prompt as we possibly can. My democratic colleagues are requesting hearings on the effect of the virus in Detention Centers for immigration purposes and we will try to Work Together to have those hearings. Im curious myself about safely in the nations prison. Next week we will hear about liability issues related to the virus. What can we do as a congress to safely open up and minimize legal exposure for those to reopen the american economy, an important topic for me. We will deal with the Dc Circuit Court, judge walker from kentucky has been nominated by the president , a highly qualified individual and senator mcconnell will be submitting a written statement. Can we hear from senator paul . Is that okay . Senator paul, the floor is yours. Thank you for allowing me to introduce judge walker. Im pleased donald trump reached outside the beltway to new york multiple a judge committed to the constitution and to be elevated now to the nations second most Important Court. Does walker will be the first to the dc circuit, that was confirmed 15 years ago. I was honored to recommend judge walker for the District Court and honored to recommend judge walker now to the elevation to the Dc Circuit Court and if you met judge walker, how i was immediately replaced by knowledge and the short time is a district judge, and unwavering fidelity to the constitution. In early april our nation was in the middle of a Health Crisis. Politicians around the country began clamoring and claiming tremendous power, part of the everyday life. Many in the public cheered them on and governors and mayors were seemingly in a race to see who could restrict their citizens movements the most. Governments began to enact restrictions to print the free exercise of religion. The governor ordered the state police to record the license plates of churchgoers on easter so they can be forcibly quarantined. The mayor of the largest city band the church from Holding EasterServices Including a drivethrough service where worshipers would stay in their car. With the weekend looming one church went to court and judge walker was assigned the case. The easy thing would have been to wait until the following week to hear the case with easter having passed. Does walker saw such a violation of the First Amendment he issued a rare saturday order blocking the city from criminalizing easter. Im sure each of you, i commended to you as it demonstrates the depth of his knowledge of the law and history. It is fidelity to the constitution even in times of crisis. Judge walker is just the kind of person we need on the bench. I support him and urge you to send his nomination to the floor. Thank you, senator paul. Senator feinstein. Thank you. I would like to begin by thanking all of the frontline workers who have spent untold hours responding to the covid19 pandemic from doctors, nurses, First Responders to Grocery Store workers, bus drivers, farmworkers, these men and women have helped keep us safe and well. I know i speak for all of us when i simply say thank you. Today the committee is moving forward with a hearing to consider the nomination of Justin Walker to the dc circuit. The Senate Confirmed judge walker to the District Court, to the Western District of kentucky on october of 2019 with no democratic votes. After serving just six months as a District Court judge, he has now been nominated to the dc circuit. After the Supreme Court, this is the most Important Court in the country. Its rulings have National Implications including on issues such as healthcare, the powers of the executive branch, workplace and environmental safeguards. In his short time on the bench judge walker, just 37 years old, has had virtually none of the experience one would expect of a District Court judge before elevation to the circuit. He has not presided over any bench or jury trial. He has written opinions and only 12 total cases. It is not surprising then that groups like the Leadership Conference on civil and human rights have opposed judge walkers nomination partly because of his, quote, lack of experience which, quote, paints a vivid picture of an individual who is unworthy of a lifetime appointment to the federal judiciary. More than 200 groups including the Leadership Conference, naacp, and National Council of jewish women also opposed judge walker because of his record against expanding access to healthcare and safeguards for the environment, consumers, and the workplace. In its letter, protect our care, noted judge walkers statement that the Supreme Courts decision to uphold the Affordable Care act was, quote, indefensible. That letter signed by 53 groups expressed concern that judge walkers confirmation could, quote, exacerbate the healthcare crisis in this country. I will ask judge walker today about this record and whether he can fulfill the judicial standard of fairness and objectivity that we should expect from our federal bench, thanks, mister chairman. Thank you, senator. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to make an opening statement. When we heard that senator mcconnell was summoning us to washington dc after 5 or 6 weeks where most of us sheltered in place at home i was waiting to hear the agenda. I knew what america was focused on, a National Emergency warns of donald trump, Public Health care crisis that we hear about every minute of every day that has literally changed the lives of so many people across america and as of this moment claimed at least 70,000 american lives. 1. 2 Million People infected. At least based on testing so far. It is the gravest challenge and crisis that we have faced, many of us, in our lifetime. So the Senate Judiciary committee coming back for business, certainly a lot of things we can bring up related to this covid19 crisis. We can certainly be asking the subcommittee on Border Security and immigration to address the issue of over 50,000 d aca Critical Health workers in america whose status under the immigration laws of the country are at least uncertain. We could be bringing that up and discussing whether we can afford to lose 50,000 Healthcare Professionals at this moment in our history. The subcommittee on the constitution could have asked us to take a look at how the election is going to be held in november, whether americans are going to have an opportunity to vote even if they are fearful of leaving their homes and going to a polling place. The subcommittee on crime and terrorism could have asked us whether we have sufficient protective equal and for police, First Responders and whether we are doing all we can to protect federal prison guards. Take a look at the numbers if you havent seen them, the bureau of prisons not just of the incarcerated but the guards being affected as well. We could have asked the subcommittee on oversight to take a look at senator mcconnells own suggestion that we address the issues of liability across the board in terms of covid19. Certainly a worthy topic and one that we may bring up next week. Aarp tells us seniors are facing healthcare scams in Record Number because of this covid19 crisis. This is within the jurisdiction of Senate Judiciary committee. The list is lengthy. Unfortunately it isnt the reason we are returning this week. And that we are considering the nomination of a 37yearold family friend of senator mcconnells to the Second Highest Court in the land. A nominee who has a record, ironically, of stridently opposing the Affordable Care act which seeks to extend Health Insurance coverage to all americans and who was last year found unqualified to serve as a District Court judge in the commonwealth of kentucky but after his six month career on the kentucky District Court, in the eyes of senator mcconnell, a promotion to the Second Highest Court in the land. This is the second time senator mcconnell has prioritized this judge over the coronavirus, the first is when he recessed the senate in march to attend a ceremonial investiture. Senator mcconnell said last week when it comes to the covid19 pandemic, quote, we cannot get distracted by preexisting partisan wish lists, that is exactly what is happening in this hearing. We are in the middle of one of the greatest Public Health crises in the history of our nation, we are sitting in committee with jurisdiction in so many critical areas when it comes to this crisis and instead, senator mcconnell is unwilling to set aside his wish list of filling the courts. The American People deserve better. Judge walker please rise. Please. Raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give this committee is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Yes. If you could just pull the microphone close the floor is yours. You need to turn it on. Thanks, chairman. Good morning. I would like to thank my home state senators, senator mcconnell and senator paul, for all the support they have always shown me and thank you to senator paul for the statement you made today. Thank you to chairman graham and Ranking Member feinstein for holding this hearing and to chairman graham for chairing it. Thank you to the president for nominating me. To my wonderful wife and my precious daughter isabella. Thank you for all your love. To my mom, debbie walker, thank you for being the great role model of my life. Thank you to all the family and friends and supporters who have been there for me before and during this process and thank you to my clerks and colleagues on the Western District of kentucky for your wisdom and your advice. Thank you, chairman graham. We will go by seniority in the easiest way to do it, anyone wants to do it by videoconference, ask questions, we have that capability. I want to introduce the nba rating regarding judge walker and i will do that now. He was determined to be wellqualified by a majority of the committee, a minority determined he was qualified in the minority determined that he is not qualified. I would like to introduce that into the record if i could. Tell us a bit about the case in kentucky involving the church that senator paul mentions . Walk us to that very quickly and give us your reasoning why you pulled the way you did. On the week before easter, the mayor announced with 5 different statements that it was not allowed for members of a church to worship at a drive in Church Service on easter. The plaintiffs in that case reached out to the mayor on thursday and asked if they could nevertheless have their service in spite of what he announced. The mayor did not respond to the plaintiffs. On friday they filed a motion to a temporary restraining order that arrived on my desk at about 6 00 pm friday. I had to make a decision and i had to make a decision quickly so that people could now on saturday whether they could go to church on easter sunday. In looking at the law, seemed to me the free exercise clause of the First Amendment prohibited the action that the mayor was taking. It was a long opinion it was a long opinion because i believed it was a momentous and even severe thing for a court to enjoin a mayor in the midst of this pandemic when the mayor is asserting that his actions could save lives. That only made the decision i did because that is what the law required. I explained it in depth because i did not believe it would be possible to explain the meaning of the free exercise clause without explaining the history of the free exercise clause. Thank you. You mentioned the Justice Roberts decision to determine the this was a tax and congress had Broad Authority to levy a tax. Can you tell us what youre talking about and why you did what you did and why you took this opinion out for comment . Certainly, senator. The case i was referring to was the sibelius. That is binding law on all Lower Court Judges and as a sitting district judge, i will follow it fully and faithfully. When i was clerking for Justice Kennedy, that was the most public high profile case of the year and as you can imagine, no Supreme Court justice likes being in dissent. Justice kennedys circumstances, it is not a position he is in often. At my investiture speech i wanted to pay tribute to Justice Kennedy, he changed my life by hiring me, at the end of the paragraph paying tribute to Justice Kennedy i made a lighthearted allusion to his dissent in nfib versus sibelius and it was nothing more than a tongueincheek way of recognizing what is in the Public Record in the United States reports, the chief justice wrote a majority Opinion Holding the individual mandate was a tax and Justice Kennedy dissented. Thanks, mister chairman. In 2018 oped you call the Supreme Court opinion, they you likewise praise Brett Kavanaugh for providing what you call a roadmap for the Supreme Court to strike down the aca. How was the Supreme Courts opinion upholding the aca indispensable. A few things, the first is as i said to senator graham the courts opinion is binding on me and i will follow fully and safely. When i wrote that oped i was not a District Court judge. I was in epidemic and a citizen engaged in matters of public concern as many judges were before they became judges. I understand that my role now is different than it was then. With regard to what i specifically wrote, i did as an academic size the legal reasoning in the majority opinion but that was not a commentary on the merits of any particular healthcare policy. It was a legal analysis about constitutionality. That is not the only time. In march of 2020 at your Investiture Ceremony for the Western District of kentucky you publicly discussed the courts aca. There you said the, quote, worst words you heard while clerking for Justice Kennedy were, quote, the chief justice think this might be a tax. That was an apparent reference to chief Justice Robertss opinion upholding the aca as a function of congresss taxation power. If you were willing to discuss the courts opinion at your investiture when you were sitting lower court judge why are you unwilling to do so now . As i tried to explain to senator graham that statement, that lighthearted allusion to something Justice Kennedy rose was part of a paragraph talking about the very important relationship that i have with Justice Kennedy and how he has been an invaluable mentor and friend to me since i clerked for him in 201112. It was not meant as anything more than a reference to the dissent he wrote and a bit of a tongueincheek allusion to the reality that no Supreme Court justice likes being in the dissent. The covid19 pandemic has are ready has an outsized impact on those who need access to healthcare but if the aca were to be struck down as you have advocated even more americans would face Devastating Health and financial consequences. Why in the middle of a pandemic should we support a nominee who would take away healthcare for millions of americans including those with preexisting conditions. The covid19 pandemic has put this country in an unimaginable crisis. I doubt there is anyone in this room who either hasnt then affected or doesnt know someone who has been affected either in terms of health or in terms of the economic impact. I certainly have friends in that category. That is your answer . Know. Im sorry. I was going to add that it