Political Quotes

“there is another issue we have made slow progress on recently that we need to accelerate and that is the judicial nomination process. Throughout my time as leader, I have done my very best to stand on the principle of having fair up-or-down votes for each of the judicial nominees. I believe it is our responsibility, our constitutional duty, grounded in the advice and consent clause of section 2 of the Constitution, and it is reinforced by over 200 years of Senate history; it is a duty we have in the Senate. I compliment the body on the two Justices who were confirmed--a Chief Justice, an associate Justice, and all the district court judges who were confirmed. In the coming weeks, we need to continue building on this progress, as with all the rest of the issues coming before us. We will confirm new nominees to fill vacancies on the Federal bench. As we all know, we need our courts to have judges who are well- qualified, mainstream judges, who demonstrate the highest integrity, and who will practice judicial restraint and will respect the rule of law and the Constitution. After consulting with Chairman Specter, Senator McConnell, and many of my colleagues, I am pleased to announce that in the coming weeks we will move forward on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. I will make every effort to see that he gets a vote before the Memorial Day recess. President Bush nominated Mr. Kavanaugh on July 25, 2003, 3 years ago.…”