Ben Cardin

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This is not equal justice under the law as promised by the etching on the entrance to the United States Supreme Court.

I want a justice who will continue to move the court forward in protecting those important civil rights.

It does not say, 'If necessary, the Congress shall have power to enforce this article.' It just says that we have the power.

Progress for women in this country has not come easily or quickly.

The freedom of religion expression is truly a fundamental American right.

I thanked you in the beginning for your willingness to serve the public as a prosecutor and as a judge.

I believe my cases, my entire record shows that I look at the acts of Congress, as I think the Supreme Court does, with deference.

I think, as attorneys, we all have a special responsibility to ensure equal justice and that requires equal access.

Before this hearing, the people of this country knew that the president had selected someone with incredible credentials to be a Supreme Court member.

I trust the Congress would prefer to make needed changes itself rather than have the courts do so for it.

You are a hero and they now know it is Judge Sotomayor.

I agree. I think you need to take a look at all the facts and circumstances and to ignore race, you are ignoring an important fact.

I look forward to working with Congress and the courts in advancing a strategy.

Justice Brandeis describes privacy as the right to be left alone.

I believe it would be wrong for Supreme Court Justices to turn their back on landmark Court precedents protecting individual Constitutional rights.

For this reason, we need to know how our nominee might approach these issues and analyze these decisions.

I think you will find that each member of this Committee and each member of the United States Senate wants to do what is right for our country.

Each Justice can play a critical role in forming the needed consensus in our nation's highest court.

It is likely that the Supreme Court will consider important protections in our Constitution for women, our environment and consumers, as well as voting rights, privacy, and the separation of church and state.

A new Justice could and very well may have a profound impact on the direction of the court.

I was hoping that you could perhaps bring us up to date as to where we are in your review as to whether we can improve the way that we bring information into our data banks and share it with local law enforcement and protect the privacy…

Congress has passed a law that established a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and it has never been appointed.

Four out of four is unacceptable.

I just want to bring that to your attention that our Subcommittee is also going to spend a good deal of effort looking at the relationship between the different agencies.