Mazie Hirono Asks Judicial Nominee If He's Ever Committed Sexual Harassment

4 months ago

At Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) questioned judicial nominees about his record.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Congratulations, Mr. Park, and thank you for telling us a bit about your background.

00:06I understand your mother is here, so welcome to her.

00:10I, too, was raised by a single mother, so I certainly know what kind of challenges she faced.

00:16I ask the following question as initial questions of every person who comes before any of the committees on which I sit.

00:24And so I will ask you the following two questions.

00:28Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors

00:33or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?

00:39No, Senator.

00:40Have you ever faced discriminated discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?

00:46No, Senator.

00:49I know that the COVID-19 pandemic was a very challenging time for our country.

00:55Thousands of people were dying every day, and there were governors who were issuing various kinds of executive orders.

01:05And you've been asked some questions about some of the litigation that you were involved in or cases you were involved in.

01:12But I'd like to just turn to one case that we have not heard about,

01:17and it's the one in which you represented the state against an emergency petition

01:22asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to order the blanket release of individuals with serious medical conditions from state prison,

01:33regardless of the crimes that put them there.

01:35You successfully argued against that relief.

01:40Could you briefly tell the committee about your work on that case?

01:44Thank you, Senator.

01:45So this was a lawsuit that was brought by the ACLU and other advocacy organizations.

01:50I've litigated against the ACLU and similar advocacy organizations in numerous cases.

01:57They filed an emergency petition that ultimately the request was to have the release of inmates during the pandemic

02:04because their claim was that it was inhumane to house people in close quarters during a pandemic.

02:10I was lead counsel in the case.

02:13It was one of probably a couple dozen cases where I represented government officials related to claims in claims for claims related to pandemic.

02:23And we successfully persuaded the North Carolina Supreme Court, which, you know,

02:28by the way, had had six Democratic members and one Republican members at the time to deny the petition.

02:34And our main argument was that these claims, if successful, would have posed an undue risk to public safety.

02:43And therefore, however sympathetic we were to the situation that the prisoners were in, it was outside the bounds of judicial authority.

02:52Thank you. I did want to give you that opportunity because I think there are some here who

02:57would think that you would have taken the side of ACLU in that situation, but you did not.

03:02Public safety was a primary concern for you.

03:05Along those lines, you have an extensive background defending, promoting and even helping to draft state laws that protect children from sex offenders.

03:16Could you tell the committee about that work and its importance to you?

03:20Thank you, Senator. I have been very privileged to have been leading the defense of many of our state laws and policies that are designed to curb and punish sexual abuse of children.

03:33So, for example, I am lead counsel in the Fourth Circuit in a case right now,

03:38representing the attorney general and a group of district attorneys in a facial challenge to our sexual offender registration statute.

03:46I am defending the Safe Child Act, which you alluded to,

03:49which was a landmark piece of legislation that our General Assembly passed unanimously that gave a civil cause of action for victims of child sex abuse to sue their abusers.

03:59I'm continuing to represent the state in that case.

04:02And I also have handled multiple criminal appeals with charging sex crimes.

04:08In fact, the first thing on my to-do list when I get back home to North Carolina is to work on a criminal appeal where the defendant was convicted of,

04:16he was 40 years old, of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

04:21I also note that there's, I think, a rather, I don't know if the word infamous applies,

04:28but as Solicitor General of North Carolina in the O'Rourke case,

04:33you persuaded the North Carolina Supreme Court to reinstate a murder conviction arising from the ambush murder of a police officer.

04:42Would you like to very briefly talk about a little bit about what happened there?

04:46Yes, Senator.

04:47And that was an incredibly tragic case where a law enforcement officer, Greg Martin, was murdered in an ambush attack.

04:55And, you know, I ordinarily do not supervise all the criminal appeals,

04:59but when we saw that the Court of Appeals, our intermediate appellate court, had vacated this conviction in that heinous crime,

05:06I took it upon myself to lend the stature and resources of my office to try to take the case to the Supreme Court and get the conviction reinstated.

05:15And we were able to successfully do so.

05:19Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:20I think we have letters of support from various police organizations,

05:24and I just want to make sure that those letters are in the record.

05:28Without objection, they'll be part of the record.

05:31Thank you very much.

05:33You certainly have my vote.

05:34Mr. Park, thank you for.

Mazie Hirono Asks Judicial Nominee If He's Ever Committed Sexual Harassment

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