Political Quotes

“first of all, I want to say how honored and grateful I am to follow my friend and distinguished colleague, who has outlined some of the reasons that I would vote against this nominee. I especially respect his raising this issue of the blue-slip approval process, which is probably unknown to the vast majority of Americans. Let me begin by saying, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, as a litigator who has spent about 40 years in the courtroom before Federal and State judges of all kinds all over the country, why the blue slip from a U.S. Senator matters to justice. We debated this issue on the Judiciary Committee. It is a time- honored tradition that Senators be consulted, that they return a blue slip; that is, approval of a nominee from their State. That is because Senators, such as Senator Merkley and Senator Wyden, are rooted in their States. They know the lawyers. Many of us are lawyers. They know the colleagues of people who may be nominated to the U.S. district court or the court of appeals in the jurisdictions that cover the areas that they serve. They know the lawyers who have appeared before these judges--their qualifications and sometimes their faults. Also, they know the opinions of these lawyers, their records in court, and how they have performed. They know their character, their integrity, and they know their records outside of the courtroom as well.…”