Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I spent 7\1/2\ years, before coming to Congress, as a criminal court judge in Tennessee trying felony criminal cases. I tried the attempted murder of James Earl Ray and many other high-profile cases, thus I have a great interest in our legal system, our courts, and especially appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. I realize that Elena Kagan will be confirmed very soon as our next Supreme Court justice, but I am very disappointed by her nomination. I certainly have nothing against her personally, but the Supreme Court is our highest appellate court. Courts of appeal basically second-guess trials. I wish our President and all future Presidents would appoint people who have actually tried cases. We should try to nominate justices who have had experience both as trial lawyers and as trial judges, people who understand the heat of the battle, the give and take, the decisions that have to be made on the spur of the moment both by lawyers and judges. Ms. Kagan may be a brilliant woman, but she has none of this experience. I want to read a portion of an article in the June 28 issue of Human Events by a man who spent over 20 years as a judge before coming to Congress, our colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe). Congressman Poe wrote, ``Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has never been a judge. She's never seen a courtroom from the bench. She's never had a judge's responsibilities.…”