Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following this week:
Senator Murray Continues Fight Against President Trump’s Far-Right Judicial Nominees, Opposes Nominee Tied to Fake Women’s Health Clinics
In a
Senate floor speech, Senator Murray shared her opposition to Circuit
Court nominee Jonathan Kobes and laid out why his volunteer work for
fake women’s health centers is disqualifying
Kobes
volunteered to help defend a law that interfered in the relationship
between providers and patients by requiring providers to give fake
information to women seeking reproductive care
Kobes is the sixth nominee from President Trump to be rated “unqualified” by the American Bar Association
Senator
Murray: “I’m going to keep standing up, speaking out, and making clear
just how harmful President Trump’s ideological nominees are”
***WATCH SENATOR MURRAY’S FLOOR SPEECH HERE***
(Washington, D.C.) –
Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) outlined her opposition to
Jonathan Kobes’ nomination to serve on the Eight Circuit Court of
Appeals in a speech on the Senate floor. Senator Murray made clear that
not only does Mr. Kobes lack the qualifications for the position, but
that his past work with fake women’s health centers—clinics that seek
out women looking for information about their health care needs and
reproductive rights, and then use misleading or false propaganda to
scare and pressure them—is utterly disqualifying. In her speech, Senator
Murray highlighted the importance of continuing to stand up for women’s
health care and rights, particularly in light of Judge Kavanaugh’s
confirmation earlier this year, and made clear she is going to keep
fighting against Republican efforts to ram through President Trump’s
far-right ideological judges.
Key excerpts of Senator Murray’s speech:
“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. And I’m not the only one concerned by that—the American Bar
Association has also rated him unqualified. That makes Mr. Kobes the
sixth judicial nominee from President Trump opposed by his professional
colleagues. But the thin record he does have is disqualifying—because it
shows he will put extreme right-wing ideology ahead of women and
science.”
“Hours before the final
vote on Judge Kavanaugh, I came here to speak about, how angry I was
when the Senate failed Anita Hill back in 1991 and confirmed Justice
Thomas, how I decided to run for 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. And then, 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’m going to keep
standing up, speaking out, and making clear just how harmful President
Trump’s ideological nominees are.”
Watch video of Senator Murray’s floor speech HERE.
Full text of Senator Murray’s floor speech below:
“Thank you M. President. I come to the floor
today to oppose Jonathan Kobes’ nomination to serve on the Eighth
Circuit Court of Appeals.
“People across the country know how important it is 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 how many millions of women and men across the country were 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 we believe survivors, about the right to safe, legal
abortions and what it means for women and their families, about what
kind of country we want to live in.
“And 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 health care.
“M. President I want to spend a few minutes
today making sure families know exactly what Mr. Kobes would mean for
women if he is seated: weaker rights and less access to health care.
“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.
“And I’m not the only one concerned by that—the
American Bar Association has also rated him unqualified. That makes Mr.
Kobes the sixth judicial nominee from President Trump opposed by his
professional colleagues.
“But the thin record he does have is
disqualifying—because it shows he will put extreme right-wing ideology
ahead of women and science.
“Mr. Kobes is an outspoken advocate for fake
women’s health care centers—sometimes called ‘crisis pregnancy centers.’
These fake clinics seek out women looking for information about their
health care needs and reproductive rights, and then use misleading—and
even blatantly false—propaganda to scare and pressure women.
“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 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 patients and health
care providers. A law that said women making their own decisions about
their own bodies, and seeking health care that is their constitutional
right should be lied to—should be frightened out of their decision with
fake information—including fake information about suicide.
“That is utterly wrong and disqualifying for any judicial nominee.
“And Mr. Kobes hasn’t merely represented these
fake clinics in court, he served on the board of an organization which
aimed to deceive and frighten women out of getting abortions.
“It’s clear Mr. Kobes wasn’t chosen for his bona fides in the legal field—because he doesn’t have them.
“M. President, women and men across the country are paying attention, because they know how much is at stake.
“Hours before the final vote on Judge Kavanaugh,
I came here to speak about, how angry I was when the Senate failed
Anita Hill back in 1991 and confirmed Justice Thomas, how I decided to
run for 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.
“And then, I also promised—right here on the
Senate floor—that whatever happened, I was going to get up the next day
and keep fighting too, and I meant it. I’m going to keep standing up,
speaking out, and making clear just how harmful President Trump’s
ideological nominees are.
“I strongly oppose Mr. Kobes’ nomination, and I hope all of my colleagues will do the same.”
