On Wednesday, appearing on MSNBC, Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) said she would like Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s replacement to “consider the impact … on people in our country so that they are not making decisions just based on” the law.
Hirono stated, “What I’m looking for is a justice who can be fair and impartial and who does not have an ideological axe to grind, which is what we saw — as far as I’m concerned — in President Trump’s nominees, including to the Supreme Court.”
“So, yes, I am expecting a fight, but there you have it,” she continued, then said, “And I’m looking for someone who’s going to be, not only highly qualified, as all of the people that you already talked about are, but who really brings to the judiciary the kind of diversity that I’d like, that — someone who will consider the impact, the effects of whatever decision-making is on people in our country so that they are not making decisions just based on,” here she pointed out her desire for the “effects,” digressing, “which I would like them to base it on,” before returning to “law.”
Then she returned to her desire for decision-making to be based on “effects,” adding, “which would be nice, and precedent, and who are not eagerly trying to get rid of decades of precedent that would protect a woman’s right to choose, for example, and voting rights, etc. But I’d like a justice who also will take into consideration the real-life impact of the decisions he or she will be making.”
In September 2018, during the Supreme Court hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Hirono whether Kavanaugh should receive the “same presumption of innocence as anyone else in America,” to which Hirono replied, “I put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases.”
“When I say that he is very outcome driven, he has an ideological agenda, very outcome driven, and I could sit here and talk to you about some of the cases that exemplifies his ability to be fair,” Hirono added.
The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti noted at the time, “Hirono’s meaning is clear: because Kavanaugh embraces conservative jurisprudence — ostensibly including opposition to Roe v. Wade, though he did not voice such opposition during his confirmation hearings — he cannot be trusted not to harm women. The statement is demonstrative, as many on social media pointed out, of how Democrats are approaching the Kavanaugh accusations, generally: they’re not opposed to Kavanaugh because of the allegations, they’re opposed to him because they disagree with the way he decides cases.”
In October 2020, during the vote to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Hirono (HI) cast her vote as a “hell, no” before appearing to storm out. She stated, “I’d like to say, hell no.”