Political Quotes

“Madam President, I come to the floor this morning to oppose the nomination of Stuart Kyle Duncan to serve on the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. I accept that there are differences of opinion with respect to nominees, and I accept that I will not agree on every issue with every Trump nominee. I do expect that individuals who are up for lifetime judicial appointments have to demonstrate that, above all else, above everything else, they will be guardians of the constitutional rights of the American people. If you want to be a judge in America, my view is, you ought to have to show an independence of thought and a respect for the rule of law. I regret to say this morning, I believe this nominee has not met those important expectations. As I review Mr. Duncan's record, it seems to me he has made a career out of fighting to restrict the rights and legal protections of the vulnerable and those who are powerless. It ought to be an immediate red flag to see how often he has aligned himself with the wrong end of some of the most high-profile cases in the last few years. My view is that his record on civil rights alone ought to be disqualifying. Twice he has represented States--North Carolina and Texas--in their defense of voter suppression laws that were written and passed based on false claims of voter fraud. Both of those laws, in my view, were a sort of Frankenstein monster of past proposals that would have made it harder for African Americans and Latino citizens to vote.…”