Political Quotes

“in this Congress, no issue has riveted the attention of the American people like the heart-wrenching circumstances of the late Terri Schiavo. No issue has generated more public debate, more heated controversy, or more passion than that tragedy. On the eve of the Easter recess, I blocked the effort in this Senate to dictate from the Senate a specific medical treatment in that end-of-life tragedy. I did that for two major reasons. First, I believe that under the Constitution, the Founding Fathers intended for our citizens and their families to have the privacy to decide these types of matters. Second, under the Constitution, to the extent government has a defined role in medical practice, it is a matter for the States and certainly not a subject that should prompt Federal intrusion and meddling. In my opinion, the events that unfolded in the Senate over Terri Schiavo need to be remembered as the Senate begins the consideration of the nomination of Judge John Roberts to serve as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. It is important for the Senate to reflect on those events because while the Court ultimately did not take up the Schiavo case, it was not for lack of effort on the part of those who read the Constitution very differently than the intent of the Founding Fathers and longstanding legal precedent prescribe. I have come to the Senate today because I believe there will be many more end-of-life cases presented to the U.S. Supreme Court.…”