Hirono: I Hope SCOTUS Pick Will Not Make Rulings ‘Just Based on’ Law and ‘Will Consider the Impact’ of Rulings

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Beat,” Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) said she wants Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s replacement to be 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” 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. 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 — which I would like them to base it on law, 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.”

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