The Hispanic element of this hearing is important, but I don't want it to be lost that this is mostly about liberal and conservative politics more than it is anything else.

You have come a long way. You have worked very hard.

the way we pick our judges should be based on merit, the way we pick our firefighters

the hope for the Mideast, Iraq and Afghanistan, is that there will be a courtroom one day that, if you find yourself in that court, it would be about what you allegedly did, not who you are.

The bottom line is one of the problems the court has now is that Mr. Ricci has a story to tell, too.

I think and believe, based on what I know about you so far, that you are broad-minded enough to understand that America is bigger than the Bronx, is bigger than South Carolina.

You cannot hold someone in domestic criminal settings indefinitely without trial.

We all now agree it is an individual right.

You have, I think, consistently, as an advocate, took a point of view that was left of center. You have, as a judge, been generally in the mainstream.

I hope you understand the difference between petitioning one's government and having a say in the electoral process.

I would have loved to have been on the other side, that your organization advocated taxpayer funded abortion and said in a brief that to deny a poor black woman Medicaid funding for an abortion was equivalent to the Dred Scott case.

It would be crazy for us to capture someone, give them adequate due process, independent judicial review, and the judges agree with the military, 'You're part of al Qaeda, you represent a danger,' and say, at a magic point in time, 'Good…

It makes us better than him.

But quite frankly, my friend, I think you've done a lot for America and the Hispanic community. My hat's off to you.

There is no requirement under military or the law of armed conflict to have civilian judges review the status of our prisoners.

I have nothing but great admiration and respect for those men and women who serve in our judge advocate corps.

What I want to tell the country is that Republicans very much do sit down and think about political picks and appointments in a political sense to try to show that we're a party that looks at all Americans and wants to give an opportunity…

The court pushed the country to do something politicians were not brave enough to do.