Political Quotes

“Mr. President, there are few things we do here in the Senate that matter more or have longer lasting impacts on our Nation than confirming individuals to lifetime appointments in district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme Court. It is the Senate's duty, as Alexander Hamilton laid out in the Federalist Papers, to ``prevent the appointment of unfit characters.'' Hamilton thought that this power would be used rarely because a President would seek to make sure that he or she sent qualified individuals to the Senate for confirmation, but we are seeing something quite different today. We are seeing the President engaged in a zeal to pack the court with extreme rightwing ideologues and to ram them through this confirmation process without due review. Just yesterday, the American Bar Association sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee saying that Leonard Grasz, President Trump's nominee to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, is not qualified to serve as a Federal judge. Yet his confirmation hearing is scheduled for this week. Putting extreme and unqualified people on the court is a disservice to America's judiciary. It will impact the protection of fundamental American rights for generations to come. It is critical for us, therefore, to have a conversation about what is going on at this moment. Just this week, we have four nominees for the court of appeals coming to the floor. Amy Barrett was confirmed just hours ago. There is another vote scheduled for tomorrow.…”