Mr. President, I was honored today to attend the second hearing I have attended in the Supreme Court of the United States. If you stand right here on the floor of the Senate and look east through these glass doors, you can almost see the Supreme Court buildings directly across the street. The Supreme Court is, many times, the last stop when it comes to human rights and civil rights. After all the work that has been done by the Congress, by the President, many times, it is the Supreme Court that has the last word. In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, when the Supreme Court held that segregation was constitutional, that last word was a disappointment. And Korematsu v. The United States, when the Supreme Court upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, that was another disappointment. But other times, the Supreme Court has risen to the challenge: The famous case of Brown vs. Board of Education, which finally struck down the concept of separate but equal; Obergefell vs. Hodges, where the Supreme Court recognized the right to marriage equality. Well, today, the Supreme Court faces another human rights issue involving another group. Just a few hours ago, the street between the Capitol and the Supreme Court was literally filled with thousands and thousands of demonstrators. The issue before the Court today was the fate of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This measure, DACA, is one that I have worked on for many years--many years.…
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