judge if you don't mind you can take
your mask off please
raise your right hand stand up please
do you solemnly swear that testimony
you're about to give this committee is
the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth so help you
god
thank you welcome to the committee to
your family of uh
and a great job over there uh the floor
is yours judge
ranking member feinstein and members of
the committee
i'm honored and humbled to appear before
you today
as a nominee for associate justice of
the supreme court
i thank the president for entrusting me
with this profound
responsibility as well as for the
graciousness that he and the first lady
have shown my family throughout this
process
i thank senator young for introducing me
as he did at my hearing to serve on the
7th circuit
and i also thank senator braun for his
support
and while she could not be with us via
the
satellite i am also grateful to former
dean patty o'hara of the notre dame law
school
she hired me as a professor nearly 20
years ago
and she has been a mentor colleague and
friend ever since
i thank the members of this committee
and your other colleagues in the senate
who've taken the time to meet with me
since my nomination
it's been a privilege to meet you
as i said when i was nominated to serve
as a justice
i'm used to being in a group of nine my
family
nothing is more important to me and i'm
very proud to have them behind
me my husband jesse and i have been
married for 21 years
he has been a selfless and wonderful
partner every step of the way
i once asked my sister why do you think
marriage is hard
people are always saying that i think
it's easy
and she looked at me and said well maybe
you should ask jessie if he agrees with
that
i decided not to take her advice because
i know that i am far luckier in love
than i deserve
jessie and i are parents to seven
wonderful children
our oldest daughter emma is a sophomore
in college who just might follow her
parents into a career in the law
next is vivian who came to us from haiti
when vivian arrived she was so weak that
we were told she might never talk or
walk
normally but now she deadlifts as much
as the male athletes in our gym
and i assure you she has no trouble
talking
tess is 16 and while she shares her
parents love for the liberal arts
she also has a math gene that seems to
have skipped her parents generation
john peter joined us shortly after the
devastating earthquake in haiti
and jesse who brought him home still
describes the shock on jp's face when he
got off the plane in wintertime chicago
once that shock wore off jp assumed the
happy-go-lucky attitude that is still
his signature trait
liam is smart strong and kind and to
our delight he still loves watching
movies with mom and dad
ten-year-old juliet is already pursuing
her goal of becoming an author
by writing multiple essays and short
stories one of which she recently
submitted for publication
and our youngest benjamin is at home
with friends
benjamin has down syndrome and he is the
unanimous favorite of the family
he was watching the hearing this morning
i'm told and he was calling out our
names as he saw the kids in the back
my own siblings are here some in the
hearing room and some nearby
carrie megan eileen amanda vivian and
michael
are my oldest and dearest friends we've
seen each other through both the happy
and hard parts of life
and i am so grateful that they are with
me now
my parents mike and linda coney are
watching from their new orleans home
my father was a lawyer and my mother was
a teacher
which explains why i became a law
professor
more important my parents modeled for me
and my six siblings
a life of service principle faith and
love
i remember preparing for a grade school
spelling bee against a boy in my class
and to boost my confidence my dad's
saying anything boys can do girls can do
better
and at least as i remember it i spelled
my way to victory
i received similar encouragement from
the devoted teachers at st
mary's dominican my all-girls high
school in new orleans
when i went to college it never occurred
to me that anyone would consider girls
less capable than boys
my freshman year i took a literature
class filled with upperclassmen
english majors and when i did my first
presentation which was on breakfast at
tiffany's
i feared i had failed but my professor
took the time to talk to me she filled
me with confidence
about how well i had done and she became
a mentor
and when i graduated with a degree in
english she gave me truman capote's
collected works as a gift
although i considered graduate studies
in english i decided that my passion for
words was better suited to deciphering
statutes than novels
i was fortunate to have wonderful legal
mentors
in particular the judges for whom i
clerked
the legendary judge lawrence silberman
of the dc circuit gave me my first
job in the law and he continues to teach
me today
he was by my side during my seventh
circuit hearing
he swore me in at my investiture and
he's cheering me on from his living room
right now
i also clerked for justice scalia
and like many law students i felt like i
knew the justice before i ever met him
because i had read so many of his
colorful accessible
opinions more than the style of his
writing though
it was the content of justice scalia's
reasoning that shaped me
his judicial philosophy was
straightforward
a judge must apply the law as it is
written
not as she wishes it were
sometimes that approach meant reaching
results that he did not like
but as he put it in one of his best
known opinions
that is what it means to say that we
have a government of laws
and not of men justice scalia taught me
more than just law
he was devoted to his family resolute
and his beliefs
and fearless of criticism and as i
embarked on my own legal career
i resolved to maintain that same
perspective
there's a tendency in our profession to
treat the practice of law
as all-consuming while losing sight of
everything else
but that makes for a shallow and
unfulfilling life
i worked hard as a lawyer and as a
professor i
owed that to my clients to my students
and to myself
but i never let the law define my
identity or crowd out the rest of my
life
a similar principle applies to the role
of courts
courts have a vital responsibility to
the rule of law which is critical to a
free society
but courts are not designed to solve
every problem
or right every wrong in our public life
the policy decisions and value judgments
of government
must be made by the political branches
elected by and accountable to the people
the public should not expect courts to
do so and
courts should not try
that is the approach that i have strived
to follow as a judge on the seventh
circuit
in every case i have carefully
considered
the arguments presented by the parties
discussed
the issues with my colleagues on the
court and done
my utmost to reach the result required
by the law
whatever my own preferences might be
i try to remain mindful that while my
court decides
thousands of cases a year each case
is the most important one to the
litigants involved
after all cases are not like statutes
which are often
named for their authors cases are named
for the parties who stand to gain or
lose
in the real world often through their
liberty or livelihood
when i write an opinion resolving a case
i read every word from the perspective
of the losing party
i ask myself how i would view the
decision
if one of my children was the party that
i was ruling against
even though i would not like the result
would i understand
that the decision was fairly reasoned
and grounded in law
that is the standard that i set for
myself in every case
and it is the standard that i will
follow so long as i am a judge on any
court
when the president offered me this
nomination i was deeply honored
but it was not a position i had sought
out and i thought carefully before
accepting
the confirmation process and the work of
serving on the court if confirmed
requires sacrifices particularly from my
family
i chose to accept the nomination because
i believe deeply in the rule of law
and the place of the supreme court in
our nation
i believe americans of all backgrounds
deserve an
independent supreme court that
interprets our constitution
and laws as they are written and i
believe i can serve my country by
playing that role
i come before this committee with
humility about the responsibility that i
have been asked to undertake
and with appreciation for those who have
come before me
i was nine years old when sandra day
o'connor became the first woman to sit
in this seat she was a model of grace
and dignity throughout her distinguished
tenure on the court
when i was 21 years old and just
beginning my career
ruth bader ginsburg sat in this seat
she told the committee what has become
of me
could only happen in america
i have been nominated to fill justice
ginsburg's seat
but no one will ever take her place i
will be forever grateful
for the path she marked and the life she
led
if confirmed it would be the honor of a
lifetime to serve alongside the chief
justice
and seven associate justices i admire
them all and would consider each a
valued colleague
and i might bring a few new perspectives
to the bench
as the president noted when he announced
my nomination i would be the first
mother of school-aged
children to serve on the court
and i know that it would make senators
young and braun happy to know that i
would be the first justice to join the
court from the 7th circuit in 45 years
i would be the only sitting justice who
didn't attend school at harvard or yale
but i am confident that notre dame could
hold its own
and maybe i could even teach them a
thing or two about football
as a final note mr chairman i would like
to thank the many americans from all
walks of life
who have reached out with messages of
support over the course of my nomination
i believe in the power of prayer and it
has been uplifting to hear that so many
people are praying for me
i look forward to answering the
committee's questions over the coming
days
and if i am fortunate enough to be
confirmed
i pledge to faithfully and impartially
discharge my duties to the american
people
as an associate justice of the supreme
court
thank you