Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today the Senate will vote on the nomination of Notre Dame Law Professor Amy Barrett to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She is an eminently qualified and exceptionally bright nominee who has received praise and support across the legal profession. She clerked for Judge Silberman on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court. She has experience in private practice and many years as a law professor teaching classes on constitutional Law, Federal courts, statutory interpretation, among others. She was appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts to sit on the Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, where she served for 6 years. Her nomination has also received wide support. For example, in a letter to the Judiciary Committee, a bipartisan group of law professors encouraged the committee to confirm her nomination, saying that Professor Barrett ``enjoys wide respect for her careful work, fair- minded disposition, and personal integrity.'' Her colleagues at Notre Dame described her ``as a model of the fair, impartial, and sympathetic judge.'' Despite this, all the Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee voted against her nomination in committee, and I suspect most of the minority will vote against her confirmation later today. This, of course, is a shame, and it does not speak well of our institution, the U.S. Senate, and I would like to explain why.…”