Mark Dayton: “the most momentous votes I have cast during my years in this Senate were on two war resolutions, one against al-Qaida…”

“the most momentous votes I have cast during my years in this Senate were on two war resolutions, one against al-Qaida and the Taliban, which I supported, and the other against Iraq, which I opposed. After those life-and-death decisions, I cannot recall another vote of more long-lasting importance than on the two nominees for the United States Supreme Court: Chief Justice Roberts and now Judge Alito. The statements of my colleagues which I have witnessed have evidenced the utmost seriousness with which we have undertaken this grave responsibility. The Constitution does not prescribe any criteria which a President must consider in choosing his nominees for the Supreme Court. Neither does the Constitution prescribe any criteria by which Senators must consider those nominees and decide whether to vote for or against their confirmations. We must each establish our own measures, search our own consciences, and make our own individual decisions. Most of this process has been appropriately dignified and respectful, as it was with Chief Justice Roberts. I myself was not troubled by the detailed questioning of either nominee during their Judiciary Committee hearings. That is the one and only opportunity for any Senators to question a nominee in a public forum, before all Senators must decide whether or not to confirm that person to be one of nine Supreme Court Justices for the rest of his or her life.…”