John Cornyn: “this morning, in North Carolina, Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United…”

“this morning, in North Carolina, Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States, is giving a very important speech. He may be speaking even as I am speaking. But he is talking about the role of judges in our Government. I think it is a very important speech. I hope our colleagues and the American people will pay close attention to what Senator McCain is saying when he talks about the important role Federal judges play in our American Government. I hope Senator Obama and Senator Clinton will likewise take the opportunity, at the first chance they have, to talk about their philosophy, about the types of judges they believe should be nominated by the next President of the United States, were they to have that privilege and that opportunity. Five years ago, on April 30, 2003, I, along with nine other of the newest Members of the Senate, wrote a letter on this issue to Senator Frist and Senator Daschle, the respective leaders of our parties. That letter was important not only because it was a bipartisan statement acknowledging the judicial confirmation process was broken and needed fixing but also important because it called, on a bipartisan basis, by the newest Members of the Senate, for a clean break or as we called it, a fresh start when it came to the issue of judicial confirmations and, notably, we said to ``leave the bitterness of the past behind us.''”