Mike Lee Grills Biden Judicial Nominees About Her 'Judicial Philosophy'

Kennedy bar exam lives on Senator Lee thank you very much Mr chairman thanks to all of you for being here judge Charlie Khan I'd like to start with you tell me in in one sentence what a Judicial philosophy is what do you think that means I think it's the set of principles that a judge brings with them when they join the bench how would you describe yours my Judicial philosophy has three components Senator first the humility to understand that the judicial role is quite limited legislatures and Act laws Executives enforce them but the only role of a judge is to apply the law to the facts of the case before them second to make sure that all parties leave my courtroom feeling like they have been heard knowing they have been respected understanding that I have been well prepared and asked good questions and finally that I issue opinions that are prompt yet thorough and that are written in such a way that both litigants and pro se parties can understand what role should the text play when you're interpreting a provision of the US constitutional or federal law the text is primary you look at the text first if it is unambiguous that answers the question that is well settled Supreme Court precedent where there's ambiguity what do you look to to resolve the ambiguity so when there is ambiguity for example in a statute you would look to not just the text but the context if there were depending on when the statute was passed looking at relevant dictionaries from the time to understand the public meaning of the words that were used also looking at the way those words are used in analogous statutes from the time ultimately once you've exhausted text context history dictionaries you can look at canons of construction the effort should involve trying to ascertain the meaning of those words at the time of enactment if a statute or at the time of ratification If part of the Constitution yes Senator that's why you look to contemporaneous dictionary definitions thank you in 2021 you spoke at uh on a panel at an event I believe honoring the 20th anniversary of the founding of the American Constitution society and in your your remarks you said quote I've been able to think through my job to carry out and live some of the values of ACS tell me judge how did you carry out and live some of the values of ACS a solicitor general role and now as a judge on the D.C court of appeals the values of ACS As I understood them were education and mentorship and I try to carry those out both in my role as an advocate and now as a judge to make sure that I'm speaking to the next generation of lawyers to make sure that I keep an open mind stay current on interesting debates stay current on the current state of the Supreme Court cases so that I can apply them Faithfully to the cases that come before me and um what uh what what other values might you refer to to ACS uh or are there others other than the ones you've just described I understand from Senator Blackburn there's a long mission statement for ACS my involvement with ACS has always been on these types of panels where we're discussing legal issues on mentorship events uh when I'm speaking to the next generation of lawyers particularly about opportunities in public service and then oftentimes ACS and the Federalist Society will pair up at law schools to have different issues sort of aired and debated I loved doing then going to those events when I was in law school and I love speaking at those joint events because I think you're really getting a way of understanding the diverse perspectives of the law I think that makes us all better better students of the law obviously as a judge my role is just to look at the law and the facts and the cases that come before me but for those that are still in law school those that are Exploring Careers in Academia and policy I think these are interesting debates to be having judge modeling what can you tell me in one sentence about removal removal in the federal jurisdictional sense of a case filed and State Court that if a case is filed in State Court sometimes Senators that one party will file a motion to remove the case for venue purposes to Federal Court particularly with diversity cases I mean that was more so my experience with cases that I handled as a trial lawyer in state court that sometimes litigant lawyers on the other side would file a motion to remove the case to federal court for venue purposes another case would proceed in federal court with diversity jurisdiction judge Oliver what can you tell me about the dormant Commerce Clause what it means what it stands for thank you for the question Senator uh the dormant Commerce Clause is considered the opposite side of the corn coin from the Commerce Clause it prevents States one State uh it prevents one state for attempting to gain a political economic advantage over another state by burdening that other state in a way that the home State's not burdened if it does so intentionally that's one thing what if it does so incidentally think if it's incidentally you might look at the uh might look at the text of the statute and determine it that way it is part of uh congress's text of the underlying State Statute yes Senator so if it's if it's written in facially neutral terms relative to uh whether it discriminates against interstate commerce then is there is there any anything left of the dormant Commerce Clause at that point no I think it uh there's the the important factor of intentionality uh as as we're talking about competing economic interests okay thank you very much I see my times expert Senator Lee uh I want to thank the panelists and all of their family and friends who came in support today it is interesting uh when we if when you

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Length: 5min 43sec (343 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 09 2023