{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.mcconnell.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=B8FC4805-B5E5-4CE3-A0D5-C8C69CD92593", "McConnell Deconstructs Democrats Misstatements", "2020-10-24", "2020", "2020-10", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding Judge Amy Coney Barrett:\r\nYesterday, the Senate took the first step toward concluding our consideration of Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court.\r\nThe judge is one of the most brilliant, admired, and impressive nominees for any public office in a generation.\r\nTomorrow, we will vote on advancing her nomination toward a final confirmation vote Monday.\r\nOur recent debates have been heated. But curiously, talk of Judge Barrett's actual credentials or qualifications has hardly featured in it.\r\nThe Democratic Leader summarized his view yesterday. Quote: It's not about qualifications. His words.\r\nInstead, our Democratic colleagues have tried to claim the Senate's process itself is not legitimate.\r\nThese claims are supposed to lay groundwork for radical, institution-wrecking changes down the road.\r\nBut they aren't true.\r\nWe live in a constitutional republic. The legitimacy of an outcome does not depend on the feelings it provokes in politicians. Legitimacy comes from precedents, rules, and ultimately the Constitution.\r\nSo let's restate a few facts for posterity.\r\n***\r\nNumber one  there is no inconsistency between the Republican Senate's decision in 2016 and our decision to confirm Judge Barrett this year.\r\nHere's what I said in my very first floor speech following the death of Justice Scalia: The Senate has not filled a vacancy arising in an election year when there was divided government since 1888, almost 130 years ago.'\r\nNot setting some new precedent; just stating a fact.\r\nFifteen times in American history, during a presidential election year, new Supreme Court vacancies have arisen and presidents have made nominations.\r\nSeven of those 15 times, voters had elected an opposite-party Senate to check and balance the sitting president.\r\nNot surprisingly, only 2 of those 7 were confirmed, and none since 1888.\r\nThe other 8 times, the same party controlled the Senate and the White House.\r\nSeven of those eight were confirmed. All but one. The one exception unraveled in a scandal.\r\nWe followed precedent in 2016 and we are following precedent this week.\r\n***\r\nNumber two  it's been claimed that Chairman Graham broke the rules by reporting out Judge Barrett's nomination.\r\nNot so.\r\nAs the Parliamentarian confirmed on Thursday, Standing Rule 26 and Senate precedent are crystal-clear. If a majority of a committee is physically present and votes in favor of a nomination, reporting it to the floor is a valid action irrespective of what committee rules say.\r\nAnd Chairman Graham didn't even violate the rules of his committee. Past chairmen of both parties have done precisely what Chairman Graham did Thursday morning. In 2014, for one example, then-Chairman Leahy and the committee's Democratic majority voted multiple federal judges to the floor without two members of the minority present.\r\nNothing remotely unprecedented took place. Not in committee; not on the floor.\r\n***\r\nNumber three  timing. Some colleagues keep repeating the absurd claim that this is the most rushed confirmation process in history. This is flat-out false.\r\nFrom the announcement of the nomination to the start of the hearings, eight Supreme Court confirmations in the last 60 years moved more quickly than this one.\r\nThen, from the end of the hearing to the committee vote, half of all the confirmations since 1916 moved faster than this one.\r\nJustice John Paul Stevens was confirmed in 19 days from start to finish. Justice O'Connor in about four weeks. In the past, Justices have been confirmed in one week in one day!\r\nThere is no argument that Judge Barrett's nomination has moved at some break-neck pace.\r\nFacts are facts.\r\n***\r\nNumber four  contrary to what's been claimed, the Senate has absolutely confirmed Supreme Court nominees later in presidential election years than this. Multiple Justices were confirmed after elections had already happened!\r\nWe have had multiple Supreme Court Justices confirmed in Decembers of election years. Senates have even confirmed nominees for lame-duck presidents who had just lost.\r\nThis is another non-issue.\r\n***\r\nSo, look, all these false claims embarrass those who repeat them. But the most important point is this:\r\nIn this country, legitimacy does not flow from the whims of politicians.\r\nLegitimacy does not depend on which political party makes a decision.\r\nLegitimacy comes from traditions, rules, and the Constitution.\r\nOur Democratic colleagues have spent months obsessively demanding that our President repeatedly acknowledge that the election will be legitimate even if he loses.\r\nBut here in the Senate, with this confirmation process, Democrats are flunking that test.\r\nLet me say that again:\r\nDemocrats want President Trump to keep repeating that the election will be legitimate regardless of whether he wins.\r\nBut here in the Senate, the very same people are saying that our vote on Monday will only be valid if they like the outcome.\r\nOur Republic cannot abide any political faction making illegitimate' a sloppy synonym for we're not happy.'\r\nThat kind of recklessness leads down a road none of us should want to travel.\r\nSo that's why I keep correcting the record, even though it might seem silly. After all, if Republicans have the votes, why not just ignore my colleagues' misstatements and move on?\r\nBut it remains our duty to separate right from wrong, fact from fiction, for the good of the Senate and our nation.\r\nJudge Barrett's confirmation process has followed every rule. It's followed the Constitution in every respect. We have abided by the norms and traditions dictated by our history.\r\nAnd we're going to vote tomorrow.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.mcconnell.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=B8FC4805-B5E5-4CE3-A0D5-C8C69CD92593"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3286590110510588, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}