The judiciary must continue to be the least political and least dangerous branch.

We have to follow the Presidential Records Act, and that is what we are following, is the law.

It is unfair and unethical. Indeed, what litigant could expect a fair shake if the judge has already pre-judged the case?

I am confident that Judge Kavanaugh will become Justice Kavanaugh and will be confirmed to the United States Supreme Court.

My colleagues on the other side are accusing the administration of using executive privilege to hide documents from the Committee. I want to say why they are wrong.

You spoke about my decency and integrity, and I think you are taking advantage of my decency and integrity.

It is not to exercise empathy. It is to follow written laws.

We are not in executive session, and I think we ought to level with the American people.

I want to urge the Department of Justice to stand strong and hold fast against this onslaught which threatens the basic principles of our democracy.

Indeed, to protect individual liberty, the Framers designed a Government of three co-equal branches, strictly separating legislative, executive, and judicial powers.

We in the Senate and everyone else in America expects exactly the same sort of confidentiality.

That is what sustains democracy, that commitment to ordinary, everyday Americans participating and engaging in this process.

The staff secretary's job is not to influence the President, but to ensure he gets a balanced diet of viewpoints from all relevant people on the staff.

The American people do not want their judges to pick sides before they hear a case.

I think we ought to give the American people the opportunity to hear whether Judge Kavanaugh should be on the Supreme Court or not.

For our Constitution places power not in the hands of this city's bureaucracy, which cannot be fired, but our Constitution places the policymaking power in the 535 of our hands.

I just believe what we are doing here, just on the objective view of fairness, is sincerely unfair and is insulting to the ideals that we try to achieve with some sense of comity and some sense of rules.

The Senate is not and never should be a rubber stamp, particularly when it comes to issuing lifetime appointments.

Some of my colleagues keep saying that we have only 6 percent of Judge Kavanaugh's White House records but that 99 percent of Justice Kagan's White House records were made public before the hearing.

I expect Judge Kavanaugh--in fact, it is my advice to him to follow the example set by Justice Ginsburg.

What I do not understand is, what is the jeopardy of just waiting, not just to digest these documents but other documents?

The claims that the Democrats are putting forward on documents do not withstand any serious scrutiny.

A good judge never bases decisions on his preferred policy preferences.

The question is does he have the character and temperament to do that.

Senators have had more than enough time and materials to adequately assess Judge Kavanaugh's qualifications, and so, that is why I proceed.