Tom Harkin: “Earlier today a vote was taken in the Senate that, to this Senator, marked about the lowest point that I think this…”

“Earlier today a vote was taken in the Senate that, to this Senator, marked about the lowest point that I think this Senate has descended in my 30 years here. I don't say that lightly. I was in Congress during the impeachment process trial for President Clinton. I thought that was a low, but it didn't compare to what happened today. The vote on Debo Adegbile to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice sent a strong message. This is the message we sent today and, young people, listen up. If you are a young White person working for a law firm and have a chance to defend someone who has done something wrong--even a heinous crime--my advice from what happened today is you should feel free to go ahead and do your job as a lawyer. Who knows? You might wind up as the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court one day. However, if you are a young Black person working on civil rights issues at the NAACP legal defense fund and you--under your obligations as an attorney--are called upon to handle an appeal for someone who committed a heinous crime, the message sent today is you're putting your career on the line. If you fulfill your duty as a lawyer, you will be denied by the Senate from being an assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice. We have a double standard, a terrible double standard. While in private practice, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court defended a mass murderer in Florida who committed eight murders.…”