Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I want to speak briefly about the nomination of Kevin Newsom to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals from Alabama. I intend to support Mr. Newsom's nomination. Mr. Newsom is currently in private practice in Birmingham. He previously served as the solicitor general of Alabama. He also clerked for Justice Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court and graduated from Harvard Law School and Samford University. The American Bar Association has unanimously rated him ``well qualified.'' My support for Mr. Newsom's nomination does not mean that this is a judicial nominee that I would have necessarily chosen. There are aspects of Mr. Newsom's record that concern me. For example, in private practice, Mr. Newsom published an article in which he was extremely critical of the doctrine known as substantive due process. This is the doctrine the Supreme Court invoked in protecting the right to use contraception, a women's right to choose, and the right to same-sex marriage. Additionally, as solicitor general of Alabama, Mr. Newsom filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in the case Rasul v. Bush, arguing that Federal courts did not have jurisdiction to hear habeas claims from foreign nationals who were captured overseas and detained at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court ruled against Mr. Newsom's position in a 6-3 decision. Lastly, while Mr. Newsom was in private practice, he filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case Roper v.…”