WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) delivered remarks on the Senate floor supporting the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Regarding some Democrats’ claims that there are insufficient documents available about Kavanaugh’s record, Portman said: 

“[T]here are more pages of documents that have been provided on Brett Kavanaugh than for the past five Supreme Court confirmations combined—over 450,000 pages.” 

Portman has given various speeches on the Senate floor in support of Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination and introduced him at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  He also released another video yesterday highlighting his support for Kavanaugh.  

A transcript of his remarks can be found below and a video can be found here: 

“My colleague from Oregon just talked for a moment about the Kavanaugh hearings, and he talked about the fact that he believes there’s not enough information out about Brett Kavanaugh. Let me just say this, there has never been more information about any nominee to the Supreme Court ever in the history of our country. 

“In fact, there are more pages of documents that have been provided on Brett Kavanaugh than for the past five Supreme Court confirmations combined—over 450,000 pages. And many of my colleagues who raised these concerns decided a long time ago that they will vote no, and said they are, and that’s fine. But, I don’t think you can blame it on the fact that there isn’t enough documentation. 

“I know what they want, and I understand why they would want it. They want the documents that went through his office when he was staff secretary, which is a job at the White House where you’re kind of like the traffic cop, everything that goes into the Oval Office and everything that comes out goes through one office to coordinate it and disseminate it properly. But those weren’t his documents. And, yes, it’s not appropriate to see all of those documents. That would be, by the way, millions of additional pages, millions, but the 488,000 pages which have been provided, including all the documents from his legal position, where he was a judge, an Associate Counsel in the White House, those have been provided and that’s good. We should look at them and look at them carefully. 

“It’s not about the documents. It’s about some fundamental differences with his philosophy. I like his philosophy. He says you shouldn’t legislate from the bench. He says you should be independent as a judge and be fair. He’s totally qualified, the American Bar Association—sometimes criticized by Republicans as being too far to the left—has just said that he is eminently qualified. They gave him their highest rating unanimously. This just happened last Friday. Not everybody knows this. 

“This person is not just qualified. I believe he’s as qualified as anybody—anybody in the country—to be in the United States Supreme Court, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to have this vote here on the floor and hope it can be bipartisan, as it has been for the nominees that President Obama brought forward, Solicitor General-then Kagan, Judge Sotomayor, big bipartisan votes. Let’s get back to that when somebody is so qualified as this candidate clearly is.” 

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