Cord Byrd: “I am sorry to hear the distinguished majority leader say what he just said. In the first place, I hear no talk of a…”

“I am sorry to hear the distinguished majority leader say what he just said. In the first place, I hear no talk of a filibuster. But who knows? If something should come up that we have not seen heretofore or have not heard heretofore about the nominee, which is entirely possible--not probable, I don't think--if that should happen, I can understand how Senators would say they are not going to give up the right to filibuster in such an event. I do not foresee that. The threat itself is a threat against freedom of speech. Now, the distinguished Senator from Tennessee is a great physician. But this is the Senate. And the Senator talks about our forefathers. Our forefathers did not deign to stoop to a King or a President. And this Senate is a forum, probably the only forum that is left in this country, where freedom of speech reigns. That is the purpose of this Senate. That is why we have a Senate. I would hope that the distinguished Senator, who is a distinguished physician, would not have it on his escutcheon that he threatened freedom of speech in the Senate and threatened the filibuster. The filibuster has been around a long time. It has a bad name in some instances, but filibusters have sometimes been the tool by which free men and women in this Senate have exercised their right to oppose something. And I detest this mention of a nuclear option, the constitutional option. There is nothing constitutional about it, nothing. Nothing constitutional about that.…”