Al Franken

But I think the alternative starts very, very early.

We need to do more for all of these cases.

But for now, you are not suggesting any Federal regulation?

I rise today to discuss an incredibly important subject--our Nation's budget deficits. The deficit for fiscal year 2009 was about $1.4 trillion. The total national debt is now just under $13.2 trillion. These numbers are staggering and…

Justice Marshall is a hero of American law and a hero of mine.

As Justice Stevens said, it's about our need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government.

there is a place for judicial review in our legal system.

one of the glorious things about courts is they provide a level playing field in all circumstances.

another problem with Citizens United was how it was decided, because it was decided in a manner that was really unfair to the American people.

There is no doubt that the Roberts Court's disregard for a century of federal law, the decades of Supreme Court's own rulings, is wrong and shocking.

I think part of my job is to continue that learning experience for the American people.

Every Senator who has spoken before me has sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and so have I.

the strongest argument of the Government was the very substantial record that Congress puts together, which I think reflected the sense of the American people that these monies from these actors spent in this form could have substantial…

Citizens United isn't just about election law, it isn't just about campaign finance law. It's about seatbelts, it's about clean air and clean water, it's about energy policy and the rights of workers and investors, it's about health care.

Justice Thurgood Marshall is one of the greatest lawyers and jurists in American history.

Justice Marshall wasn't some activist radical, rather, his views were very much in the mainstream.

political speech is the highest form of speech under the First Amendment entitled to the greatest protection, and that the courts should be wary of Congress regulating in this area in such a way as to protect incumbents to help themselves.

A full 80 percent of Americans that hear about this case just think it is a bad idea.

the court should show 'special solicitude for the despised and disadvantaged, the people who went unprotected by every other organ of government and who had no other champion.'

This is the man who won Brown v. Board of Education, who helped end segregation in our Nation's schools.

I do not think Justice Stevens--I am sorry, Justice Scalia or Chief Justice Roberts adhered to their own principles. I think they were legislating from the bench.

I worry that AT&T and Verizon are going to decide that, well, they have to buy ABC or CBS to compete.

This is a giant of the American legal system.

Thanks to this case and a similar case known as SWANCC, the Clean Water Act now does not cover half of the nation's largest polluters.

The potential for corporate influence on our elections under Citizens United is going to dwarf what it is today.