Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to speak in opposition to one of President Obama's most controversial nominees, Mr. Jack McConnell, who has been nominated to be U.S. district judge for the District of Rhode Island. He has dedicated his professional career, and enriched himself in the process, by bringing dubious mass tort litigation. I believe he has demonstrated a result-oriented view of the law. He has repeatedly demonstrated that he is highly partisan. And given his history of intemperate and highly partisan remarks, I do not believe he is capable of being an impartial jurist. First, Mr. McConnell is an active partisan, a little more so than most nominees recently before the Senate. Mr. McConnell and his wife have donated at least $700,000 to elect Democrats, over $160,000 in 2008 alone. He has served as treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee. He is a member of Amnesty International USA and has served as a director at Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island. Partisan political activity is not disqualifying on its own. My concern is that Mr. McConnell is so steeped in political activity and ideology that it may be impossible for him to be an impartial jurist--even if he earnestly believes that he can. We can legitimately question whether his partisanship will influence his judicial philosophy.…”