Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I have sought recognition to comment briefly about the prospective vacancy in the Supreme Court of the United States with the resignation of Justice Stevens. I do so to urge the President to select a nominee without regard to any threats of a filibuster. I urge the President to make his selection of whomever he believes to be the best qualified to handle the responsibilities with a view to academic excellence, professional experience, and intellect to carry on the battle, where we have seen the Supreme Court veer very sharply to the right. Let's be candid about the Supreme Court being an ideological battleground today. That happens to be the fact. When some decry judicial activism, what could be more judicial activism than reversing the 100-year precedent that corporations may not engage in political advertising, as the Supreme Court did in Citizens United, in a contortion of procedural maneuverings to take a case with an isolated issue with a predetermined obvious purpose of changing the law on that very vital subject for the operation of our democracy? We had Chief Justice Roberts, in the confirmation proceedings, under oath, swear he would not, quote, ``jolt the system.'' Well, there have been quite a number of jolts in the system with his key vote. We had a very extensive questioning and commentary about Chief Justice Roberts' deference to congressional fact-finding. Only Congress has hearings, hears witnesses, and makes determinations of fact-finding.…”