NO MERCY: 'Why Is Your Record So Bad?': John Kennedy Brutally Grills Nominee About 'Abysmal Record'

uh judge welcome thank you you are probably the least productive member of your District Court isn't that right well I have not um considered myself in those terms um Senator well let me explain what I mean um you have 125 motions in that you've declined to decide well well just let me finish that's more than any other district judge in the entire seventh circuit in fact you rank seventh highest nationally do you not I am not familiar with those statistics Senator Kennedy um you haven't looked I did look and in preparation for this hearing but I didn't compare myself to others you haven't seen that you ranked the seventh the worst in the country in terms of making decisions you are the first to tell me this um and I think for me I I stress the quality of my decision making and uh as I explained I came on I was the first um district judge to come on during this Administration yeah but so did so were all the others I mean um there have been 68 District judges confirmed in the 117th Congress in terms of motions pending for more than six months you ranked number three you all came on at the same time you all had the same problems with Co you're the third worst you really think of all the other District judges in the seventh circuit you're the one that ought to be promoted based on this record Senator this is something that I've discussed with my fellow judges all many of us knew judges from not you said you'd never looked at these statistic I I haven't these particular statistics I have I am not familiar with but in terms of new judges both from the current Administration and the former Administration we are quite a collegial um bunch and often time talk about the pressures of a new judge and the way reassignments work in our district which is that you get for example 300 cases this understand I'm familiar with the procedure in federal court here's what I'm trying to understand why is your record so bad well I don't view it that way Senator when I um look at the quality of my decision- making um you know the feedback that I get from part parties um course parties are not going to criticize you they want you to rule in their favor I I understand Senator Kennedy I mean um that's just the way it works help me understand why you have such an abysmal record and moving cases I mean it costs a lot of money to litigate and people are paying lawyers and time is money and and of all the district court judges and you're in in in the seventh circuit you're the worst in terms of moving cases why do you think you deserve to be promoted over all of those others so Senator again I'm I'm not familiar with the statistics but I stand by my record and that I give parties what they need um I think you know I am regularly in my courtroom I am regularly issuing decisions um I just came on at a very difficult time where there was a backlog in the courts so did everybody else let me ask you um you when you were partnering in your Law Firm you volunteered to uh to to uh to write a brief on behalf of the Brady Center you wrote the brief and this is what you said you volunteered for this you weren't being paid is that right this was a pro bono case that one of my partners brought in yes um you said quote assault weapons may be banned because they're extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes close quote tell me what you meant by assault weapons thank you Senator Kennedy just to clarify just to clarify there I was local counsel um our supreme but you wrote the brief tell me what you meant by assault weapon Senator Kenny actually I I did not write the brief um the brief was written by um you signed the brief though did correct I signed the brief sign a brief you're testifying to the court that everything in it is is true right yes that and and I I so they're your words in terms of the court right well I you're you're correct Senator Kennedy I would never sign tell me what you meant by assault weapons so I I am not a gun expert and at the time that brief I think was about 10 years you were given the court advice about say ban assault weapons what is I'm just you told the court you were you were you were an expert just tell me what you wanted to ban Senator sitting here today um as I said I did not write that brief I was local counsel the brief I understand at at the time tell me what you wanted to ban that's all I want to know judge I I don't remember the exact definition of assault weapons in the the ordinance that was at issue so you submitted did a brief to the to to to an appellant brief you signed it and you don't know what and you said abolish assault weapons and you don't know what you wanted them to abolish Senator at the time that I signed the brief I I read the brief um because the our Supreme Court required someone an Illinois Bar member to sign the brief I was not responsible for researching the content you were responsible for the brief you absolutely absolutely and sitting here today I do not remember the characteristics of of that were that were cited in the ordinance for the assault weapons ban it's not an area of practice that I have um specialized in I'm sure 10 years ago I I would I could have answered your question sitting here today you want you think you deserve to be promoted with record Senator I I stand by my record I stand by my record Senator Butler thank thank you Mr chairman uh congratulations uh to you and your

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Length: 7min 4sec (424 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 20 2024