Chuck Schumer: “I am here to speak on the nomination of William Pryor to the Eleventh Circuit. Bill Pryor's nomination is the last of…”

“I am here to speak on the nomination of William Pryor to the Eleventh Circuit. Bill Pryor's nomination is the last of the three covered by the deal worked out by 14 of our colleagues to avoid meltdown in the Senate. Yesterday was the vote on Janice Rogers Brown. It was a sad vote. Not a single Republican Senator broke with his or her party to vote against a nominee whom even the National Review, George Will, and others singled out for her judicial activism and radicalism. It showed again that the other side is willing to march in almost total lockstep with the President. If they had their way, the Senate would be a complete rubberstamp for any nominee the President proposes--totally against what the Founding Fathers intended this Senate to be. The count is 2,921 to 2. Out of almost 3,000 votes on appellate court nominees, 44 in all, only twice have Republican Senators dared to deviate from the party line. Is that the kind of independent thinking that an up-or-down vote entails? It is a sad day, indeed. For sure, Janice Rogers Brown's views do not mirror those of most of my colleagues or even come close. In a moment, I will go through all the reasons I am opposed to Judge Pryor's nomination and all the things he said with which I strongly disagree. Here is one I agree with.…”