Political Quotes

“in the midst of all of the historic and profoundly significant events happening these days in Congress, there may be a temptation to overlook some of the judicial nominations that are coming to the floor of the Senate, some of them almost a caricature of the unqualified nominees that we have seen all too often. One is before us today, Lawrence VanDyke, who has been nominated to the Ninth Circuit. Over the past 3 years, we have watched the Trump administration march ceaselessly to degrade the judiciary. Yet, even in having witnessed this travesty firsthand, I find Mr. VanDyke's nomination truly astonishing and alarming. Once again, we are faced with a nominee who lacks the support of his home State Senators, who is not even from the State for which this seat is designated, and who was rated ``not qualified'' by the American Bar Association. That is a pretty tough set of qualifications--or lack of them--to match, but Lawrence VanDyke has done it. These departures from bedrock principles that once guided the exercise of the Senate's constitutional duty to advise and consent should disturb all of us, but even more disturbing is Mr. VanDyke's record as an unrelenting ideologue who has spent his entire legal career promoting an extreme political agenda. Unfortunately, that is exactly what we can expect of him if he is confirmed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.…”