Massachusetts Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren gave a speech for the conservative Federalist Society in 1991, and the group has recently posted video of the event online.

During the nomination of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Warren delivered a floor speech in which she called the Federalist Society “a radical, right wing group deeply committed to overturning Roe v. Wade,” but in 1991, Warren was their honored guest.

Warren was part of a panel entitled “Socialization of Risk: Bankruptcy Law and Financial Institutions” at the group’s annual lawyer’s convention, a good five years before Warren would abandon the Republican Party and register as a Democrat, but long after the group’s founder had come out against Roe.

The speech itself was a mostly-dry affair that dealt mainly with corporate bankruptcy, and Warren’s opposition to weakening federal bankruptcy protections. She argued for those protections from a conservative standpoint, to reduce the risk to taxpayers in the form of government bailouts.

Warren drew laughs from the crowd from the beginning of her speech, recounting a child’s explanation of bankruptcy as “exploding banks” and joking about being bitter over an unpaid childhood loan of seven cents.

But she also drew likely unintentional laughs when she talked about the consequences of corporate bankruptcies on workers.

“We bought labor peace in the 70s and 80s by promising those employees that they were going to have retirements like you wouldn’t believe,” Warren said.

“Well, you know what? They shouldn’t have believed because what’s happened is now it’s time to pay the piper,” she added, to laugher from the crowd. Warren, however, did not laugh.

When she did speak about individual bankruptcy, Professor Warren’s message was largely pro-consumer, although without the empathetic language that Senator Warren uses on the stump now.

During the Q&A portion, Warren said “What troubles me about this is the notion that the answer will be let’s tighten those consumer credit card debtors, striking down on the bankruptcy laws. Let those, let’s sweat those little suckers, put ’em in the box.”

“You know what, that’s gonna yield about a buck ninety-five?” she continued. “Because the problem we’ve got and consumer bankruptcy is the people who filed for consumer bankruptcy, statistically, the group in general can’t pay. And if they can’t pay? My daddy taught me that one. No blood out of a turnip. You could rip out their fingernails, you could sweat ’em. You could tell them they can’t have any kind of discharge in bankruptcy. But the reality is they’re still not gonna pay.”

She warned that credit cards would be the next big bubble, and that would put taxpayers at risk “if you force the banks to crash.”

“But don’t don’t ratchet down on the consumer bankruptcies, that’s not gonna be the answer,” Warren said. “The answer is over there, not over here,” she added, indicating the pro-banking side of the dais.

Warren would end up becoming a Democrat, would be instrumental in the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, getting elected to the Senate, and is now a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. What a difference 28 years make.

Watch the full event above, via The Federalist Society.

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