Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has primary responsibility to review administrative actions taken by countless Federal departments and agencies. The court's decisions--including its recent invalidation of President Obama's unconstitutional ``recess'' appointments--often have significant political implications. As a result, this body--the Senate--has a longstanding practice and tradition of scrutinizing nominees to the D.C. Circuit very carefully. When evaluating those nominees, we have also carefully considered the need for additional judges on that court. In July 2006 President Bush nominated an eminently qualified individual, Peter Keisler, to fill a seat on the D.C. Circuit. I know Peter Keisler. Peter Keisler is among the very finest attorneys I have ever worked with. In fact, most who know him would agree he is among the very finest attorneys in the entire country. He is one who happened to have enjoyed bipartisan support throughout the legal profession at the time of his nomination. Nevertheless, Democratic Senators blocked Mr. Keisler's nomination, and his nomination simply languished in the Judiciary Committee. At the time a number of my Democratic colleagues signed a letter arguing that a nominee to the D.C. Circuit ``should under no circumstances be considered--much less confirmed--before we first address the very need for that judgeship.'' Those Senators argued that the D.C.…”