"What obligation do we have to make sure they know what your thinking is?"
"The Supreme Court was on the side of the American people when it ruled in Roe v. Wade that the constitutional right to privacy exists."
"I am hopeful that your background and experiences, to use the words of Teddy Roosevelt, 'the experiences of someone who has actually been in the arena' will help you be that person."
"the Court should have a broader range of perspectives than just gleaned from the appellate branch."
"Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever."
"The Supreme Court plays a unique and central role in the life of our Nation."
"Our path to a more perfect Union also included the rejection 75 years ago of conservative judicial activism by the Supreme Court and our establishing a social safety net for all Americans."
"the Court, regrettably, I think, has become an ideological battleground."
"This decision and its predecessor, District of Columbia v. Heller, have essentially disregarded the precedent of 71 years."
"It took more than four score years and a Civil War that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands to end the enslavement of African-Americans and include as citizens 'all persons born or naturalized ..."
"I have to make my decision whether to support or not support her nomination on the basis of evidence, not on blind faith."
"In the 170,000 pages of documents from your White House service that were turned over to this committee, there is ample evidence of your efforts to bridge the gaps, the political gaps that haunt us in..."
"We are polarized regionally. We are polarized politically."
"Elena Kagan earned her place at the top of the legal profession. Her legal qualifications are unassailable."
"I hope that Elena Kagan will demonstrate through this hearing that she will be the kind of independent Justice..."
"Solicitor General Kagan brings both moderation and pragmatism to a Court that is sorely in need of both."
"The Bork hearings were great. The Bork hearings were educational. The Bork hearings were the best thing that ever happened to constitutional democracy."
"I trust you will put the interests of the American people and justice for the American people first above popular opinion or politics."
