Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak about a very important issue for our Nation's judicial system and two bills that I and my colleague from Montana have introduced. The bills' primary focus is what all of us in the Senate want, and that is equal justice under the law. One of the bills would split the dysfunctional and unwieldy U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The other bill would form a commission to evaluate the court and make recommendations based on its findings. Like a lot of us here, when I am in Washington I like to get out and try to get a run in in the morning and look at the beautiful monuments, memorials. Oftentimes I run past the U.S. Supreme Court, and I often look at the inscription etched on the beautiful Court there that says simply ``Equal justice under law.'' I think of Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell's famous quote restated: Equal justice under the law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building, it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society. It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists. . . . I also think of the thousands of lawyers and judges and clerks, past and present, who have lived their lives attempting to fulfill its important ideal and how our democratic system of government is dependent on striving for this ideal. We should do everything in this body to make sure that simple concept--equal justice under the law--is a reality for all Americans.…”