Al Franken: “I rise also in opposition to the nomination of John Kenneth Bush. Mr. Bush, who has been nominated to serve as a judge…”

“I rise also in opposition to the nomination of John Kenneth Bush. Mr. Bush, who has been nominated to serve as a judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, has the dubious distinction of having anonymously written scores of blog posts that aren't just offensive--which, believe me, they are--but that call into question the nominee's ability to be a fair and impartial arbiter of the law, which is the job of a judge, especially a circuit court judge. In my view, the nominee's lengthy record of inflammatory and intemperate writings stands as evidence that Mr. Bush falls far short of the high standards that the Senate should demand of nominees to the Federal bench. Over the course of nearly 10 years, Mr. Bush wrote under the pseudonym ``G. Morris.'' He wrote under a pseudonym on a political blog operated by his wife, where he published hundreds of incendiary posts. Let me be absolutely clear. Being politically active or expressing political opinions is not a disqualifying characteristic in a judicial nominee--at least, not in my view. But as I said during Mr. Bush's hearing, it is important for the Senate, in attempting to determine whether a nominee is qualified to serve as a Federal judge, to assess that nominee's judgment as a judge--to assess his or her judgement--and that is what I would like the President and all our Members to consider. In the hundreds upon hundreds of posts that Mr. Bush anonymously published on his wife's blog, Mr.…”