Political Quotes

“I thank my distinguished colleague from New Jersey for allowing me to go first because I have one of our foreign country's Ambassador in my office. Today, in the Senate, we have an opportunity to both alleviate a judicial emergency and make history by supporting the confirmation of Zahid Quraishi to the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, where he currently serves as a U.S. magistrate judge. As I mentioned many times in the past, the vacancies on this court have been declared judicial emergencies by the Judicial Conference of the United States. The U.S. District of New Jersey is one of the busiest courts in the entire country, with 46,000 cases pending before it. Yet being short-staffed has left our judges with mind-boggling caseloads, more than three times the national average. Fortunately, we in the Senate have an extraordinary nominee before us this week. Judge Quraishi has devoted his career to serving our country, and his story embodies both the rich diversity of New Jersey and the promise of America as a place where anything is possible. He was born in New York, grew up in Fanwood, NJ, with his parents, both immigrants from Pakistan, who came to this country to build a better life. In 1997, he graduated from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and in 2000, he earned his J.D. from Rutgers Law School, my alma mater. After a clerkship with the New Jersey Superior Court, Mr. Quraishi accepted a position with a New York law firm.…”