Derek Schmidt
Representative for Kansas · Republican · United States
“Mr. Speaker, I have long supported the Keep Nine Amendment because I think it is the right thing to do for our Republic. As has been stated here many times in today's somewhat jovial but I think very serious debate, turning the Supreme Court into a political football, whose size is expanded first by Republicans, then by Democrats, whoever…”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“You, as a Democrat in Congress, have the opportunity right now to go on record for the preservation of an independent Supreme Court that will stand up to authoritarians who abuse power.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, you will hear from advocates of Court expansion that the Court is a mere rubber stamp for Trump. This is a Court that defied Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, to deport people without a hearing, to send troops to Chicago, to use emergency powers to impose tariffs, and to revoke birthright citizenship by executive…”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“By removing from Congress the ability to pack the court with additional justices in response to political pressures-- regardless of whether those pressures come from the political left, the political right, or elsewhere--your proposed amendment would reinforce our long and proud American tradition of an independent judiciary that, as Alex…”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“If Democrats win control of Congress and the White House, they will have the power to enact legislation to strengthen voting and abortion rights and to curb the future abuse of executive power, without undermining the independence of the Supreme Court.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“I commend you for your bipartisan leadership on this matter, the importance of which is apparent in light of recent calls for Congress to ``pack the court'' by amending statutes to add additional justices if the perceived balance among current justices tips in a manner disfavored by some.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
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“Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Schmidt) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kansas. General Leave”
House of Representatives31 August 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 32) to clarify where court may be held for certain district courts in Texas and California.”
House of Representatives31 August 2026Source ↗
“What they can't do is get a district court judge to order that an entire Federal policy nationwide be disabled. There is still a relief valve because we added an amendment in committee that allows States to go into court to seek that type of nationwide relief. Why? It is because States are unique. It is not the national association of people who lost last year's election. It is a State organized under our Constitution that has a unique role in our Federal system and an interest in nationwide relief. We ought to adopt this bill and do what everybody agrees is the right thing.”
House of Representatives8 April 2025Source ↗
“In our branch of government, we had Democrats in both bodies of the legislative branch who proposed legislation just a Congress ago saying this is a problem we ought to deal with. Their legislation looked a lot like part of this bill, three-judge panels. Now, we have Republicans saying the same thing. We ought to agree this is just the right thing to do as a matter of public policy, not because of who is in the White House or who is the plaintiff bringing a particular lawsuit. Look, district courts are supposed to resolve disputes between litigants. If we adopt this thing and make it law, there is no doubt any citizen who can walk into court today can still walk into court and get relief for anything they are entitled to relief for.”
House of Representatives8 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for bringing us this important piece of legislation. I haven't been here very long in this body, but I have learned something, and it is amplified today. That is that this town has a remarkable ability to snatch disagreement out of the jaws of consensus. This is an issue that liberal thinkers and conservative thinkers have both said is a problem that we ought to address. Justice Kagan has been quoted widely as having said that it just cannot be the case that a single district court judge can hold up Federal policy for the lengthy period of time nationwide that it takes for the ordinary appeals process to run. On the other end, Justice Gorsuch has suggested that these nationwide injunctions bear a remarkable similarity to a step in the legislative, not judicial, process.”
House of Representatives8 April 2025Source ↗