Political Quotes

“I commend my colleague from the State of Wisconsin. He is a person of principle. He comes to the floor of the Senate and reminds Members, whether in support of or in opposition to the death penalty, it is fundamental to the American system of justice that we insist on fairness. In my State of Illinois, some 13 people who were on death row preparing to be executed by the State of Illinois were found by scientific testing to be innocent and were released. Because of that, the Governor of our State, a Republican, George Ryan, made what I consider to be an important and courageous decision. He suspended the death penalty in my home State of Illinois. The Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. Feingold, reminds Members that the experience in Illinois is not unique. In State after State, we have found people who have been called to justice and have received virtually no representation before the court of law. In the most serious possible cases under our system of justice, these men have been sentenced to death. In many cases, that sentence was carried out with inadequate defense and representation.”