Political Quotes

“Alexander Hamilton said, ``The first duty of society is justice.'' If that is true--and I certainly believe it is-- then the Republican Senate is failing miserably on its first duty. By neglecting to live up to their constitutional duty to provide ``advice and consent,'' it is clear the Republican leader and his party are denying justice for the American people. Federal courts depend on us--the United States Senate--to do our job so justice can be dispensed in courtrooms across the country. But Republicans clearly have no interest in seeing these courtrooms and judicial chambers staffed adequately. So far this Congress, Republicans have confirmed only five judges. By this same point in the last Congress of George W. Bush's Presidency, under my leadership, the Senate had confirmed 25 judges. Five to one seems unfair. There are real repercussions when Republicans refuse to act. We didn't have judicial vacancies then. We did it because it was the right thing to do. If there aren't enough judges to hear the cases that are piling up, a vacant judgeship is declared an emergency. At the beginning of this year, there were only 12 judicial emergencies that deserved priority attention. Yet, in the mere 7 months of this Republican-controlled Senate, the number has doubled and is on its way to tripling very soon. As of today there are 28 judicial emergencies, including 4 judges currently pending on the floor.…”