Political Quotes

“Mr. President, Members of the Senate have a duty and obligation to carefully consider the votes we take on nominations to the Federal courts. Our Constitution has established a judicial branch with vitally important responsibilities and with considerable independence from the other branches of government. The Founders were right to do so. They were also right to give this body a say on nominations to that independent branch. It is the one chance that the people, through their elected representatives, have to influence the makeup of the Federal courts. I do not begrudge any Senator the right to carefully question judicial nominees, to carefully weigh their qualifications, and to exercise their best judgment as they exercise their responsibilities that the Founders assigned to the Senate. The question we must all answer is this: When do careful consideration and the exercise of good judgment become damaging delay? For just as we can fail to serve our constituents by failing to properly scrutinize judicial nominees, we can fail to serve them by failing to act on these nominations after there has been sufficient time for the Judiciary Committee and the Senate to scrutinize them. Today nearly 1 in 10 Federal judgeships is vacant.…”