Sam Brownback: “I join my colleagues in making brief comments about the selection of Judge John Roberts from the DC Circuit Court of…”

“I join my colleagues in making brief comments about the selection of Judge John Roberts from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to serve as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I follow my colleague from Kentucky in noting how Ruth Bader Ginsburg was treated--appropriately, properly, with due diligence, and speed so that the nomination went through in an orderly process. She took the seat of Justice Byron White who was one of the dissenters in Roe. A number of my colleagues are saying we need to have somebody in this position that is exactly the same as Sandra Day O'Connor in her position. Yet that wasn't the standard that was applied in the most recent case with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the replacement for Justice Byron White. The process is as it is. The President nominates. The President campaigned vigorously about the role of the Supreme Court and the role of the courts in society today. He has made a noteworthy choice, a person of outstanding academic credentials. I have heard a colleague of mine say: I don't know yet how I will vote, but I would certainly hate to argue a case against him. Somebody who has argued 39 cases in front of the Supreme Court is very impressive indeed. But I also would like to note that the process is for the President to nominate and us to vote by a majority. That has been the historical setting, and that is what we should continued to do in this case.…”