Richard Blumenthal

So we cannot do it just by one year, by one shot. It has got to be sustained and committed.

Each of you... are for many of our litigations the ultimate source of justice in the federal courts.

I hope that we will deal expeditiously with your nominations.

In my opinion, the Article III judges that I currently work with are really the gold standard of those principles.

Thank you very much, Senator Whitehouse, for taking the gavel.

We looked at the other writings with a little bit of a different approach because they were written in a different role.

I understand that you were on the ABA Committee that evaluated Samuel Alito when he was nominated to the Supreme Court.

I would also ask consent to submit an op-ed printed in the record today by somebody who directly benefited from Ms. Pillard's work.

I respectfully disagree, Senator.

The workload of this court is certainly a tremendous challenge and growing rather than diminishing.

Transparency and openness at this time in particular I think is essential to the role you will be undertaking.

I think Americans will rely on you to defend their civil liberties in what are difficult times.

I hope to hear more from you about it, and I hope that you will let us know whenever we can support or help you in that effort.

I think strictly from an appearance standpoint, that could be regarded as raising questions about the accountability as well as the transparency of that procedure.

I hope to work with you and I hope you will work with me and other colleagues on trying to reform the FISA Court in that way.

I strongly support stronger and more frequent prosecutions under existing laws, even as we move forward to improve those laws.

I take it not only that you would oppose the use of such enhanced interrogation like waterboarding or other forms of interrogation that could be regarded as torture, but also that you would use the FBI's resources to investigate those…

I welcome your receptiveness to thinking more seriously about some kind of adversarial process in the FISA Court.

I believe Congress has been complicit in the current complicated situation. We have not followed the President's lead in closing Guantanamo.

We are going to join together, and perhaps others wish to join us, in a letter to the President asking him to exercise his Executive authority to end this force feeding in Guantanamo.

Just because we have the ability to collect huge amounts of data does not mean that we should be doing it.

I remain concerned that we have not yet struck the right balance between the intelligence-gathering needs of the FBI and the privacy rights of Americans.

I have long said that protecting our national security and protecting Americans' fundamental rights are not and should not be mutually exclusive.

I want to thank the Chairman for his bill, the Forensic Science and Standards Act of 2012.

Once you are dead, the Federal Government pretty much does not care about you.