Sheldon Whitehouse Grills Trump Judge Nominee Over Whether He Worked To Stop Same-Sex Marriage

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questioned Joshua D. Dunlap, nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit.

Transcript

00:00Well thank you chairman. Mr. Dunlap, it appears that you were active in Maine

00:12against a ballot initiative legalizing same-sex marriage. Is that true? I believe

00:23you're referencing simply an op-ed that I published that expressed at the time my

00:29disagreement with the theft of political signs through that. If you were not

00:34active against that ballot initiative why would you be engaged about political

00:42signs? I lived in the area in which I observed that political signs are being

00:49stolen and in my view on the First Amendment. Your testimony to us is that

00:55that was only about political signs? That you did not take an active part in the

01:00anti-same-sex marriage ballot initiative? I did not play a part in that ballot

01:08initiative, no. I'm sorry? Say again? I did not take a part in that ballot initiative, no.

01:12Even as a advocate? I mean you weren't when you say you did not take a part in it

01:19what exactly does that mean? I had no active role or participation in any

01:23campaign relating to that. Did you say that gay marriage would affect our rights

01:33under the First Amendment, freedom of speech, and free exercise of religion? Again

01:40the position that I was taking there was that in the context of that ongoing

01:44political campaign that there were thefts of political signs and I expressed my

01:48disapproval of that. The political speech is central to the First Amendment. But

01:53you also said that allowing gay marriage would affect our rights under the First

02:01Amendment, freedom of speech, and free exercise of religion. So you at least took

02:04that public position, did you not? I did. Which is a little bit different than taking no

02:10public position. You also supported a main bill entitled an Act to Allow a Wrongful Death

02:18Cause of Action for the Death of an Unborn Child. Could that statute be applied to a

02:26woman seeking an abortion or to a doctor providing an abortion? So that proposal

02:33would have brought Maine's law into line with that of all other New England states. It does

02:39not apply in the context of abortion. It would have given grieving parents the

02:45opportunity to recover for a tortious death as that was defined. But not one

02:51provided, not one related to the woman obtaining medical care? Again that statute

02:57exists throughout New England except for the state of Maine and it has not

03:01affected abortion rights in those states. When you were in law school you interned for a

03:07non-profit whose purpose is to oppose women's reproductive rights and to oppose

03:17marriage equality and to oppose the right of LGBTQ couples to adopt children. Did you

03:30intern for that organization because you supported or shared those views? I was a

03:36Blackstone Fellow. I participated in a program that offered training in First

03:41Amendment law draws from a wide variety of law schools across the country and

03:47offered the opportunity as well for an internship. I spent my internship that

03:52summer as a research assistant for Professor Garnett. Did you have choices in what group you

04:00interned with? I applied to that for that job, yes. You applied for that job for that group that has as its

04:09purpose to oppose women's reproductive rights, to oppose marriage equality, and to

04:14oppose the right of LGBTQ couples to adopt children, correct? I applied for the Blackstone

04:20Fellowship which is run by ADF which is a highly successful law firm. And you chose to do that

04:29internship at ADF, correct? You weren't forced there, you weren't driven there, you

04:34weren't, this was your choice to do that. You picked that internship and you picked

04:38that organization. That's correct. And yet you say that you had no view on the

04:45same-sex marriage question in Maine even though you devoted yourself in law

04:50school to interning for an organization that opposes same-sex marriage. I don't

04:59believe I ever testified that I did not have a view. I said I did not participate

05:02in the campaign. Yeah, well your version of participate seems a little squirrely to

05:09me when you're actually writing op-eds related to that question. I will leave it

05:19there because my time has expired but I hope that we'll get real answers, Mr.

05:28Chairman, to our questions for the record. I've been told that Republican

05:33members are telling witnesses that they actually don't need to answer questions

05:37for the record and we've seen sham answers to questions for the record. This

05:45committee is spiraling away from being the least bit responsible with respect to

05:51our oversight and I would hate to think that QFR is no longer matter in the

05:56judiciary committee of the United States Senate. Thank you.

Category

Transcript

Recommended