McConnell On Judges Un-Retiring: ‘If You Play Political Games, Expect Political Prizes.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding judicial nominees:

"Just before Thanksgiving, the Senate reached a deal on judicial nominees.

"Republicans would forego our available procedural roadblocks on the remaining nominations to district courts-which have the votes to be confirmed-and in exchange the Democratic Leader won't bring any of the remaining nominations to circuit courts to the floor-because they don't have the votes to be confirmed.

"As a result, President Biden is getting around a dozen more district judges and the next president will get four more circuits to fill. At least, I expect he will.

"We have already seen two partisan Democrat district judges 'un-retire' after the American people voted to fire Democrats last month. This is noteworthy. Looking to history, only two judges have ever 'un-retired' after a presidential election-one Democrat in 2004, and one Republican in 2009.

"But now, in just a matter of weeks, Democrats have already met that all-time record.

"It's hard to conclude that this is anything other than open partisanship.

"They rolled the dice that a Democrat could replace them and now that he won't, they're changing their plans to keep a Republican from doing it.

"It's a brazen admission. And the incoming administration would be wise to explore all available recusal options with these judges, because it's clear now that they have a political finger on the scale.

"This sort of partisan behavior undermines the integrity of the judiciary. It exposes bold Democratic blue where there should only be black robes.

"But it would be especially alarming if either of the two circuit judges whose announced retirements created the vacancies currently pending before the Senate-in Tennessee and North Carolina-were to follow suit.

"Never before has a circuit judge unretired after a presidential election. It's literally unprecedented. And to create such a precedent would fly in the face of a rare bipartisan compromise on the disposition of these vacancies.

"It was no surprise to hear the New York Times bemoan this deal. But its editorial didn't doubt that these vacancies now properly belong to the next President.

"To borrow from President Obama, elections have consequences. But those consequences are for the political branches of government. For sitting judges to change their announced retirement plans because of presidential election results or the Senate Executive Calendar puts them three zip codes away from their proper judicial role.

"If these circuit judges unretire because they don't like who won the election, I can only assume they will face significant ethics complaints based on Canons 2 and 5 of the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, followed by serial recusal demands from the Department of Justice. And they'll have earned it.

"As I have repeatedly warned the judiciary in other matters, if you play political games, expect political prizes.

"So let's hope these judges do the right thing and enjoy their well-earned retirements.

"Leave the politics to the political branches, where we just demonstrated that even on an issue as contentious as judicial nominations, both sides can still come together for a good deal."

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