Political Quotes

“in a few hours, the Senate will vote to proceed to the nomination of Michael Brennan to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Brennan has not received a blue slip--that is a notice of approval that has been a tradition in the Senate--from one of his home State Senators, Ms. Baldwin. So the vote today will be a slap in the face to the custom of senatorial courtesy. It will be a slap in the face to the bipartisanship we hear so many on the other side of the aisle and so many more Americans talk about. It is blatant disrespect to every Senator who wants to withhold his or her judgment on a judge, a tradition that has been respected by Democrats and Republicans until Leader McConnell abruptly changed this earlier this year for circuit court judges. What makes this even more galling is the history of this vacancy on the Seventh Circuit. Mr. Brennan will fill the seat that had been held open by Wisconsin's other Senator for 6 years during the Obama administration. Well, how was Senator Johnson able to withhold? He didn't return his blue slip, and Senator Leahy, the Democratic chair, respected it. The same should prove true for Senator Baldwin. She should get the same respect from Senator McConnell and Chairman Grassley that Senator Johnson got for this same seat from then-Leader Reid and Senator Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, but, no, our Republican colleagues keep changing the rules.…”