At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) questioned Eric Chunyee Tung, nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.
00:04And to all the nominees today, it's obviously a time in America where we should recognize people who want to step forward and serve in the public interest do so at often great sacrifice, not just to themselves but to their families.
00:18So I just want to recognize that this is a very important part of our American tradition and people that step forward for these offices should be commended for doing that.
00:28Mr. Chung, I want to jump right back in to where my colleague was asking you about Mike Davis, if you don't mind me to dig in a little bit more here.
00:40And if that's one of my videos, keep it playing.
00:43But if it's not me, you should cut it off right now.
00:46Do you agree with Mr. Davis that you guys are friends, correct?
00:53We are friends, Senator.
00:55Yeah, thank you.
00:55And Mr. Davis recommended you or did Mr. Davis recommend you or otherwise mention you to anyone in the Trump administration for this judicial vacancy?
01:08I believe he might have, Senator.
01:10Thank you, sir.
01:11Do you know exactly what did he say or to whom he made that recommendation?
01:15I do not know that, Senator.
01:17Thank you, sir.
01:17Mr. Davis, did Mr. Davis, excuse me, or anyone else associated with the Article III project advise or prepare you for any aspect of this nomination?
01:31No, Senator.
01:33Okay.
01:34And Mr. Davis is the founder of the Article III project.
01:37According to the organization's website, he founded the Article III project after he helped Trump win the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh nominations.
01:46And Mr. Davis said that we saw how then how relentless and evil too many of today's Democrats have become.
01:55They're Marxists who hate America.
01:59They believe in censorship.
02:01They have politicized and weaponized our justice system.
02:06Do you agree with Mr. Davis' statements that today's Democrats are relentless and evil?
02:11Senator, Mr. Davis' views, as expressed there, are not necessarily the views of mine.
02:17I didn't ask if they were necessarily.
02:19I just asked, do you think that today's Democrats are relentless and evil?
02:24Senator, you're asking me to comment on a political question.
02:28And as a nominee to a judicial position, I cannot and should not speculate or comment on that.
02:34Sir, I spend a lot of time working to try to affirm this fact that we are one nation under God.
02:44That the lines that divide us are nowhere near as strong as the ties that bind us.
02:49I'm proud of my relationships with my friends on the other side of the aisle.
02:52I think it hurts Mr. Kennedy when I say that he and I are friends.
02:58I could say unequivocally, Republicans are not evil.
03:02But you're telling me you will not say on the record here that Democrats are not evil?
03:09Senator, you're asking a personal and policy-laden question that I cannot answer.
03:16So put yourself in the position of a person coming before you who's watching this right now.
03:22And you're supposed to be a judge who's impartial.
03:25And you're telling me that for this nomination, I have a constitutional obligation to advise and consent.
03:32That I should be in any way hopeful that a judge will be that impartial if he cannot say that Americans writ large
03:40because of their freedom of party association, that you can't say that whether you're deciding to be a Democrat or Republican or Independent,
03:48you can't say in this hearing that you don't think that that makes a person evil?
03:55Senator, I can commit to this committee that whoever comes before my court,
03:59should I be fortunate enough to be confirmed, will be treated with respect and their arguments will be...
04:04And not a presumption that they are evil.
04:05Senator, whoever they are, Republican or Democrat or Independent, who steps to my court,
04:13they will be accorded full consideration of their argument.
04:16Mr. David, I don't know what you're afraid of.
04:18I really don't, Mr. Tang.
04:20I honestly don't know what...
04:22Where have we gotten to the point in American history that someone up for a position such as yours...
04:29And I've seen this courageously from people on both sides of the aisle
04:32who understand that the judiciary should be above partisanship,
04:35who understand the judiciary in many ways should be a sobered assessor of fact.
04:44It is deeply disappointing to me that you cannot tell the American public right now
04:50that the person that you're affiliated with, with their heated language,
04:54with their casting in broad brushes, doubling down on the toxins that are making life here dangerous.
05:02And frankly, I've talked to federal judges who tell me about having to protect themselves.
05:08We had a horrific incident in our state where a federal judge was targeted.
05:13Their husband shot.
05:14Their son killed.
05:15In this time in America, to render an answer of, I can't answer that,
05:22to me, is additive to the toxins that are in our society that are pitting people against each other.
05:29You are up for a position in the highest court in the land.
05:33And you can't simply say, I don't think Democrats are evil.
05:38Is that what you're telling me?
05:39Senator, I wish I were up for a position in the highest court of the land,
05:42but I'm up for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
05:44Sir, to Americans, the federal courts are the highest courts in the land.
05:48So I appreciate your correction and your diligence and dutiful attention to detail.
05:55But right now, I am gravely disappointed that you can't simply say.
05:59What I can say is that my colleagues are not evil, that Democrats are not evil,
06:03that Republicans are not evil, and this kind of rhetoric is damaging.
06:05I am deeply disappointed, sir.
06:11I'm the chairman now.
06:12We've got a new sheriff, and I'm going to call on.
