Political Quotes

“I suggest the absence of a quorum. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Missouri. Mrs. McCASKILL. I ask unanimous consent that the order for quorum call be rescinded. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, it is not often the Senate has a chance to go back and fix a grievous error that occurred in our history, and that error occurred in 1999 when a good and qualified man was defeated in the Senate for a position on the eastern district court of the Federal bench in Missouri. At that time there was an attack on Ronnie White for being soft on crime. The record, as it stands today, flies in the face of that assertion. At the time of his defeat, he had voted to uphold the death penalty almost 70 percent of the time. In fact, in his career on the Missouri Supreme Court, being the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court, he voted with the majority on death penalty cases 90 percent of the time. This is a mainstream jurist. This is not someone who is outside of the mainstream. That is why the Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed his nomination. That is why he is considered in the State of Missouri as an iconic leader in the legal community.…”