Chris Van Hollen: “I rise today to speak about one of the most important responsibilities we have here in the U.S. Senate: considering the…”

“I rise today to speak about one of the most important responsibilities we have here in the U.S. Senate: considering the President's nominee to the Supreme Court. It is a vote with consequences that will far outlast this Presidential administration. It is a vote with implications that will outlast all of our time here in the Senate. It will certainly be one of the most consequential decisions each one of us makes. That is because any one of the nine individuals named to the Supreme Court with a lifetime appointment can change the course of our Nation. In just the past few years, we have seen that. We have witnessed a series of 5-to-4 decisions that changed the trajectory of our society-- decisions that gutted section 4 of the Voting Rights Act and resulted in numerous States enacting discriminatory laws designed to limit access to the ballot box, especially for African-American and minority voters. The 5-to-4 Citizens United decision overturned the law of the land and Supreme Court precedent in order to empower corporations to spend unlimited sums of money in support of candidates for public office, corroding the fabric of our democracy. There were decisions that limit a woman's access to safe and affordable birth control and reaffirm the legal fiction that for-profit corporations should have the same rights as real people.…”