Amy Klobuchar: “I come to the floor once again on the topic of the vacant seat on our Supreme Court. I would also echo Senators Durbin's…”

“I come to the floor once again on the topic of the vacant seat on our Supreme Court. I would also echo Senators Durbin's comments about the need to move immediately on the funding on Zika. We of course passed something here that had clear bipartisan support. Now we wait to get this done again and to not politicize this incredible public health threat. Today I am focusing my remarks on the damage to our system of governance that is being done by leaving a seat open on our Nation's highest Court. For years, we have seen some fraying of our democracy, the polarization, but the citizens of America have always believed in an independent Supreme Court. We have seen some political creep, as we know, into our judicial selection process. Nonetheless, the citizens of America have respected the rule of law. They continue to do that. When our Founding Fathers sat down to sketch out the framework of our Nation, they did not issue decrees. No, they set up a system of governance with three equal branches. The Federalist Papers outline this balance of paper in detail. Alexander Hamilton once wrote about this balance. He wrote: The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges holding their offices during good behavior. . . . They are means, and powerful means, by which the excellences of republican government may be retained and its imperfections lessened or avoided.…”