Cory Booker: “I thank my senior Senator, who himself has an improbable story, his lived experience, a son of immigrants coming up in…”

“I thank my senior Senator, who himself has an improbable story, his lived experience, a son of immigrants coming up in New Jersey, being born in a way that he knows struggle and knows poverty. And the fact that he is on the Senate floor speaking about someone else who has an improbable story shows you the greatness of America. I am grateful for my senior Senator and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee for taking time to show us the importance of this moment. This is history here. America has never before had an article III judge who also happens to be a Muslim. That has never before happened. Think about this: 200-plus years in American history, a country that was born and our Founders enshrined in our very founding documents, in the Bill of Rights, this ideal of freedom of religion. We celebrate religious plurality and religious diversity. So this is an extraordinary moment. Now, I am thrilled that it is a bipartisan moment. In committee, during this time of heightened partisanship, in the Judiciary Committee, Judge Quraishi passed out 19 to 3--19 to 3--which is a further testimony not just to the gravity of this historic moment, not just to a man's religion, but to the man himself, the core of who he is. Senator Menendez said this. Many people, after 9/11, felt the deep, agonizing grief in this country. We are not defined as a nation by what happens to us. We are defined by how we choose to respond.…”