President Trump’s nominee to join the U.S. Court of Federal Claims came under fire from the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday for blogging that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was a “judicial prostitute.”
Damien Schiff authored a years-old blog post calling Kennedy a judicial prostitute who would sell his vote “to four other justices in exchange for the high that comes from aggrandizement of power and influence, and the blandishments of the fawning media and legal academy.”
At the outset of Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Schiff’s nomination, Chairman Chuck Grassley asked Schiff to explain the comments without repeating the language Schiff used and said, “I think you probably know what I’m talking about.”
“The blog post in question, the language that I use, I acknowledge to be intemperate and uncharitable and I do not defend it,” Schiff told Grassley. “And I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who may have been offended by that post. That being said, I’d also like to clarify that the point of that blog post was not to impugn or malign any person but rather to attack a certain style of judging that is frequently applauded in the media and I might call that sort of strategic judging and I find it very objectionable that the media would applaud that.”
Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota said he thought Schiff’s testimony on Wednesday was “hypocritical” because he wrote a trail of blog posts about various topics but would not answer specific questions from the committee about his jurisprudence or personal views.
Schiff also faced tough questions from the Republican side of the aisle on his denigrating comments about Kennedy.
“Are you sorry you said this about Justice Kennedy?” asked Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican.
“Absolutely senator, I’m sorry I used that phrasing,” Schiff responded. “Again, the intent was not to impugn Justice Kennedy or anyone. It was intended to attack…”
“What is it about your generation that y’all think you have to write this stuff down?” Kennedy interjected to Schiff, who was born in 1979. “You understand that’s a permanent record?”
“It absolutely is senator and again with respect to that particular blog post, I am sorry because the language is easily interpreted as being uncharitable and I do not want to be uncharitable to anyone,” Schiff answered. “I simply wanted to direct my ire at a theory of judging which again I believe no judge subscribes to and I think, in particular, no justice of the Supreme Court would subscribe to. That the cases must be decided on the law and the facts and strategy is totally inappropriate for what a judge should do.”
If confirmed to the Court of Federal Claims, Schiff would serve a 15-year term and replace Judge George W. Miller.
