Political Quotes

“In the absence of the chairman, I will say a word or two about the nomination. At the outset, I will say this may be the toughest part of this job-- standing in judgment of other people. It is easy to deal with issues and abstractions and numbers and policy. But when you stand in judgment of another person, I think it is one of our most solemn responsibilities, complicated even more by the fact that many of the people who are in controversy here have very close friends in the Senate among my colleagues. In this case, my friend and colleague, Senator Sessions of Alabama, I believe counts William Pryor as one of his close friends. They have worked together for many years. I can tell you, from his statements in committee and on the floor, he is totally committed to him and believes he would be a fine circuit court judge. That is why opposition to his nomination is all that much more difficult. I come here today to oppose his nomination because, frankly, as I listened carefully to Attorney General Pryor's positions on the issues in the Judiciary Committee, it struck me that on issue after issue he has not only taken an extreme position but has been unashamed, unabashed, and unembarrassed to express it in some of the clearest language we have had before us.”