Political Quotes

On the recordMarch 29, 2017
the most important words in our Constitution are the first three words. Our Founders made sure that, when the Constitution was written, those were displayed--``We the People''--in super-sized font so that, generations later, we would not forget what our Constitution is all about. Our Constitution was not crafted to create a government that would make decisions by and for the powerful. It was not crafted to create a government that would make decisions by and for the privileged. That was the power of the ``we the people'' vision, as President Lincoln so eloquently stated, ``a government of, by, and for the people.'' Well, that is the vision we have the responsibility of maintaining, and it is a vision that is facing a dramatic test in this coming week--a test that affects the integrity of this body, a test that affects the integrity of the Supreme Court. Back in January of last year, a Supreme Court seat came open. A Supreme Court seat for which the President had a responsibility to nominate a replacement, a new Justice to serve on the Court. We here in the Senate had a responsibility--a responsibility to exercise advice and consent. That meant that we would vet the nominee, that we would research, have a committee hearing, have a committee vote, and then forward it to the floor, where we would have a floor debate.…
Said by
Jeff Merkley
Democratic · Oregon
Source
govinfo.gov
Mar 29, 2017

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