WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn slammed Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Democrats for launching an assault on the Supreme Court’s legitimacy and reminded the Committee of investigations they should instead prioritize. Chairman Durbin abruptly adjourned the meeting without calling up any subpoenas.

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Remarks As Prepared Below:

Democrats Have Launched A Smear Campaign Because They Disagree With SCOTUS’ Recent Decisions And Ideological Makeup

“I find this whole charade disgusting. Since the Dobbs leak, our Supreme Court justices—in particular, Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett—have been subjected to threats on the lives of themselves and their families. Threats on their lives, Mr. Chairman. And yet, this is what you and Senator Whitehouse have chosen to focus this Committee’s precious time on? It’s embarrassing. Ultimately, you’re doing this for one reason: you don’t agree with the Court’s recent decisions or its ideological makeup, so you want to do everything you can to delegitimize the Court as an institution.”

Blackburn Calls On Judiciary Committee To Subpoena Justice Sotomayor Staff, Publisher

“But since we’re talking about Justices’ conduct, Mr. Chairman, let’s talk about Justice Sotomayor. This summer, we learned that—over the years— Justice Sotomayor’s staff have pressured public institutions where she has spoken to buy her books. Books, by the way, that have earned her nearly $4 million. I haven’t heard you talk about that. Nor have I heard you mention the fact that she refused to recuse herself in two copyright infringement cases concerning her book publisher. You clearly don’t want to talk about that. So that’s why I’ve filed an amendment issuing a subpoena to Justice Sotomayor’s staff who helped sell her books, as well as her book publisher—so that we can fully understand the backstory of her book deals.”

If Democrats Want To Take Up The Committee’s Time With Investigations, We Can Go There

“And since we’re in the business of issuing subpoenas now, here are a few more that I’ve filed. A subpoena to Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to provide the flight logs for his private plane. Given the numerous allegations of human trafficking and abuse surrounding Mr. Epstein, we’ve got to identify everyone who could have participated in his horrific conduct.

I’ve also filed a subpoena authorization for Secretary Xavier Becerra to come before this Committee and explain to us how he lost track of 85,000 unaccompanied children. In addition, I’ve filed a subpoena to compel the Biden DOJ to provide all documentation about their disastrous decision to terminate the successful China Initiative—a program that was critical to targeting and prosecuting Chinese spies in America. 

Next, we’ve got to get to the bottom of the far-left’s effort to take down President Trump. That’s why I’ve filed a subpoena for all documents relating to any political donation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s staff.

And let’s talk about the two tiers of justice we’ve witnessed under President Biden. This administration loves to talk about misinformation, but they clearly have the goal of censoring conservative speech online. In the latest example of this, DOJ—on behalf of the FTC—filed a privacy and securities practices suit against Twitter. So, I think we need to get to the bottom of President Biden’s effort to silence Elon Musk. That’s why I’ve filed a subpoena to compel DOJ and the FTC to provide all documents related to any investigation into Elon Musk.

So, Mr. Chairman, I think there are real issues that we should be talking about: social media is destroying our kids’ lives, the southern border is wide open, and President Biden has lost track of 85,000 precious children. The world is on fire, but you’ve chosen to launch an assault on the Supreme Court’s legitimacy. If you want to take up our time and go there, Mr. Chairman, we can go there. This is a sad day in the history of this prestigious Committee, but I’m confident that the American people see this sham for what it really is.”