Political Quotes

“I am concerned about comments made by a Republican Senator yesterday suggesting that I have made a commitment that the Senate will confirm a specific number of judges in this Congress. Senator McConnell and I have a lot of private conversations on a lot of different subjects. Senator McConnell has told me that the number of judges confirmed and the way judges are handled in this Congress is very important to him. If that, in fact, is the case, that it is important to him, it is important to me, and I have told him that. The only way this Senate is going to run well is if the Republican leader and the Democratic leader have an understanding as to how things should proceed. There are certain things I feel strongly about. He knows what they are. I feel that he understands how I feel about those things. And I think the converse is true: If I think something is important, he thinks it is important. I reiterate, he believes the way judges are handled in this Congress is important to him. It is important to me. It is important to both of us for a number of reasons. He and I are both lawyers, and we both revere the Federal judiciary. We have worked with present members of the Supreme Court to work on increasing their pay. We have worked with them on a number of issues that are important to the administration of justice in this country. The Federal judiciary, really, is the third branch of our Federal Government, and it is entitled to great respect.”