Kevin Roberts: “I rise to address the nomination of Cornelia Pillard for the DC Circuit. It appears to me the environment in which we…”

“I rise to address the nomination of Cornelia Pillard for the DC Circuit. It appears to me the environment in which we are discussing these nominations is a good example of the new rules of the Senate. We are already getting a taste of the new world order around here. It did not take long. It has only been a few weeks but we are already experiencing life in the new Senate. Those in the majority who wanted to change the rules are now certainly getting their wish. It should have been obvious that the rule change would impact the Senate in many unforeseen ways. We in the minority have had to find other ways to make our voices heard. As we watch the majority use its new power to move whomever it wants through this body, we should realize that we have started down a course from which we will never return. Indeed, we should expect more changes in the future. The majority changed the rules because it did not like how they were operating to frustrate their ambitions and agenda. If other things come about that frustrate the majority, we may have new changes to get rid of those frustrations too. The invocation of the nuclear option has set us on an irreversible course. A few weeks ago I came to this floor and quoted our former Parliamentarian Bob Dove.…”