Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in 1988--almost 30 years ago--when Justice Kennedy was elected to the Supreme Court, President Reagan said: ``Every day that passes with a Supreme Court below full strength impairs the people's business in that crucially important body.'' President Reagan realized in 1988, during the last year of his Presidency, what President Obama realizes in 2016, the last year of his Presidency: that an eight-person Supreme Court runs counter to our national interest and runs counter, frankly, to the intent of our Founders, especially as we modernized the Supreme Court. There is a reason the Supreme Court--I believe for 150 years or something like that--has had an odd number of Justices, and that is so they can make decisions. Since Justice Scalia's death, we have seen the Supreme Court deadlock a couple of times, and when the Supreme Court deadlocks, it is as if the cases weren't even heard. It also means that if there are two different appellate cases that contradict one another, the Supreme Court would rule, as a referee would, to decide on the law of the land. When there is a vote of 4 to 4, it is as if there were no Supreme Court decision at all, and as a result, we have conflicting laws in different parts of the country. So you can live under one set of rules in Ohio and live a few miles away in Pittsburgh under another set of rules. As a result, this prolonged vacancy is damaging to our country's highest Court.…”