Political Quotes

“I rise this evening to speak about the nomination of Judge Gorsuch to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Every Member of the United States Senate has an obligation to review this nomination thoroughly and to make a determination. I believe the advice and consent duty of a Senator--certainly in my case, when I make decisions about any judge for confirmation, but especially for the Supreme Court--has to be a decision grounded in a review of a number of considerations. I think they are generally the same no matter who the nominee is, but sometimes they can vary. I think in this case there are probably additional considerations that I weighed. Of course, we want to look at the nominee's character and their integrity, certainly their judicial temperament. Someone can be very capable as a judge and very learned in the law, but they may not have the temperament or the integrity. I don't think there is any question that there is nothing in the record that indicates that Judge Gorsuch doesn't have the experience or the character and integrity to do this job, and to do it with the kind of temperament we have the right to expect from any judge. I also believe at the same time, though, that you have to do a review of the cases decided by the nominee--in this case, a judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, a very similar kind of job to that which the Supreme Court Justice does. You are reviewing cases on appellate court.…”