Grassley Opening Statement on DOJ Nominees John Sauer, Harmeet Dhillon and Aaron Reitz

 

Good morning. I’d like to welcome everyone to this hearing to consider the nominations of John Sauer to serve as the Solicitor General, Harmeet Dhillon to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division and Aaron Reitz to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy.

 

Before I turn to my opening statement, I’ll explain how we're going to proceed today.

 

I’ll give my opening remarks, and then I’ll invite Ranking Member Durbin to give opening remarks. Then, I’ll call on Senators Lee, Cruz, Hawley and Schmitt to introduce the nominees. After that, the nominees will have a chance to give an opening statement to the Committee. 

 

Following the statements from the nominees, we’ll proceed to a single, five-minute round of questions. I ask Members to do their best to adhere to these time limits, so that we can proceed efficiently with the hearing.

 

With that, I’ll turn to my opening remarks.

 

Our three nominees have been tapped to serve in important roles in the Department of Justice. Congratulations on your nominations. If confirmed, your work will impact the lives of millions of Americans.

 

Each of you has impressive qualifications, and we’re looking forward to hearing from you. I’d like to thank your family and friends for coming today. I know they’re all very proud of you.

 

I’ve said many times that the Department of Justice is at an inflection point. Over the last four years, public trust in the Department has declined, and many Americans feel like the justice system doesn’t work for them.

 

If confirmed, we expect you to work with Attorney General Pam Bondi to fulfill her promise to turn things around.

 

Mr. Sauer, you’re particularly well suited to serve as the nation’s chief appellate lawyer. You started your career clerking for Justice Scalia, one of the legal giants of our time. Justice Scalia spent his life teaching lawyers to faithfully interpret the law and Constitution according to its original meaning. I’ve no doubt that you learned this lesson well.

 

After clerking and a stint in private practice, you left D.C. behind to go home and serve as an Assistant United States Attorney in Missouri. You worked diligently to prosecute criminals and to keep your community safe. 

 

In 2017, you joined the Missouri Attorney General’s Office as the Solicitor General, where you served under two members of this Committee, Senator Hawley and Senator Schmitt.  Serving as a state’s chief appellate officer during the COVID pandemic and across two presidential administrations undoubtedly prepared you for the role you will walk into if you are confirmed. 

 

There’s a lot of work to be done defending our nation’s laws, and I know you’re prepared to take it on.

 

Ms. Dhillon, you’re one of the nation’s foremost experts on civil rights. Your journey started a long way from here, when your family immigrated from India. You went to Dartmouth at the tender age of 16, and then went to law school at the University of Virginia.

 

Throughout your career, you’ve never shied away from unpopular but just causes. You served as the Director of an ACLU chapter after 9/11, a group many on my side are often skeptical of. You also started your own law firm and founded a non-profit. You’ve litigated some of the most important cases on free speech, religious liberty, voting rights and discrimination.

 

Discrimination is wrong. Our Constitution and our civil rights laws do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, as the Supreme Court recently made clear in the Students for Fair Admissions cases.

 

Unfortunately, the Biden administration not only allowed discrimination to take place, but openly encouraged it. Under the name of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” the Biden administration imposed a nationwide regime of discrimination, and the Civil Rights Division completely failed to enforce our nation’s laws. President Trump has put an end to this and, if confirmed, I trust that you’ll work to help him execute on his promise.

 

Americans don’t pick winners and losers based on the color of their skin, their sex or the name of their God.

 

Ms. Dhillon, you’ve fought for everyone to be treated equally. You fought against colleges shutting down free speech for political reasons, against states restricting freedom of worship and against big tech companies engaged in censorship. You’ve won many victories defending freedom and our constitutional rights. If confirmed, we’ll need your continued leadership to protect the civil rights of all Americans.

 

Our side of the aisle doesn’t spend much time talking about people’s personal characteristics. We care about character and merit. But in addition to your qualifications, your background makes you particularly suited to return the Justice Department to its proper role of enforcing our civil rights laws and ending discrimination.

 

You’re an immigrant, a religious minority, a woman, a business owner, a civil rights leader, an accomplished lawyer, and, I’ve learned, an excellent knitter. You’re an example of what is great about America.

 

Mr. Reitz, you have an impressive and dedicated career of service to our country. You attended college at Texas A&M University on an ROTC Scholarship and honorably served our country as a United States Marine, including a tour in Afghanistan.

 

Upon your return from Afghanistan, you attended law school at the University of Texas, where you excelled.

 

After a time in private practice, you decided to serve your country again. You clerked for the now-Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Then you ran for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives and campaigned on issues that you believed in. You continued gaining legal experience during this time in private practice.

 

You eventually joined the Office of the Attorney General of Texas as Deputy Attorney General for Legal Strategy. In that role, you were involved in some of the office’s most impactful litigation during the Biden administration. You fought to secure the border, hold Big Tech accountable, protect the integrity of the ballot box and promote conservative social values.

 

Today, you continue to serve Texas and your country as a member of Senator Cruz’s staff. You are currently his Chief of Staff, and I think I won’t offend my colleague when I say that this is no easy job. This is particularly true because you continue to serve in the Marine Corps Reserve, where you actively drill with your unit and hold the rank of Major. Your relentless work ethic and love of country are obvious.

 

In short, the three nominees before us have impressive careers and life stories. I look forward to hearing from them today.

 

With that, I’ll turn to Ranking Member Durbin for his opening remarks.