Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I ask my friend and colleague from Illinois, who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, if he could actually work with us--I have already reached out to him and some other Democrat Senators--on this very reasonable request. He has been here a lot longer than I have. But every time there is a Ninth Circuit judge who has been nominated, I have met with him because it is so important to my State. Alaska has 1 Ninth Circuit judge, and there are 29 judges on the court. So I would ask, respectfully, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee to work with me because this is a precedent that I don't think any Senator, Democrat or Republican, wants. Literally, you are going to have the White House saying ``You know what? You are not on the Judiciary Committee, so your advice-and- consent role under article II, section 2, is null and void'' because the White House Counsel wants to ``protect the judges''? Protect them from what? So I want to work with my colleagues--all of them--particularly the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, as he has a lot of influence, I am sure, with the White House and the White House Counsel's Office, but, again, I encourage my colleagues to vote no until we start getting meetings and are able to do our duty. This is going to benefit my colleagues on both sides of the aisle over the long term, and it will strengthen this body, not weaken it, which is what is happening right now. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER.…”