Chris Coons

What you chose to say yesterday, 'All roads lead to the Glucksberg test,' gives me pause and concern.

The right to marry is clearly rooted in our history of legal tradition and practices, yes, Judge?

I think that your explanation of how you ruled in the Hamdan case is admirable.

The genius of our system, or separation of powers, and the independent judiciary is that we can never allow that to happen.

There have to be some limits to Executive power where he, head of the executive branch--the President in our case--cannot climb over the lectern.

What I am encouraged by is, that you have said when you call U.S. v. Nixon the greatest, you think it is rightly decided.

I went back to look at 'Presidential Administration' by Justice Kagan after you cited it to me yesterday.

Will you also agree that Morrison was correctly decided?

In an exchange you had with Senator Feinstein earlier today, this was exactly the question where I do not think you ever really answered it.

So if U.S. v. Nixon was rightly decided, was Morrison v. Olson rightly decided?

I have called it one of the four greatest moments in Supreme Court history, U.S. v. Richard Nixon.

I want to focus on the question of the President's action in firing the special prosecutor because that is what I think is a key issue here.

In the last round, we talked about the bedrock constitutional principle that no one should be above the law, including the President, which is a principle foundational to our democracy.

These are the American people's documents. The Presidential Records Act gives us a right to obtain them for a Supreme Court nomination after the review of the professionals at the National Archives.

The ability of a special counsel to conduct an independent investigation of the President is foundational to the rule of law.

If there is an allegation of Presidential wrongdoing, a congressional inquiry should take precedence over the criminal investigation, including an investigation of any Presidential associates.

The independent counsel statute was 'a goo-goo post-Watergate reform'

I would put the final nail in the coffin.

You expressed a view at the time that a President can fire at will a prosecutor criminally investigating him. Is that still your view?

A key way to ensure that no one is or should be above the law is to ensure that the President is not above the law by preventing him from firing someone appointed to investigate him.

The rule of law requires that those who are governed and those who govern both be bound by the law.

I hope to question you today about your views on rule of law, separation of powers, Presidential power.

I urge you to answer our questions and to confront these significant challenges. These are weighty questions, and the American people deserve real answers.

With stakes this high, I deeply regret the process that has gotten us to this point, the excesses and partisan gamesmanship of the last few years.

The next Justice will impact essential rights enshrined in our modern understanding of the Constitution, including the right to privacy, rights to contraception, intimacy, abortion, marriage, the freedom to worship as we choose.