John Cornyn: “I wanted to come to the floor to pose a few questions to my colleague from Kentucky. First, I would say that I admire…”

“I wanted to come to the floor to pose a few questions to my colleague from Kentucky. First, I would say that I admire his fortitude and his willingness to ask appropriate and reasonable questions of the administration on a matter of grave importance. This is a matter no less important than our constitutional government itself that does not give sole power to the administration to make these decisions but recognizes that the Congress is a coequal branch of government. Indeed, we have important oversight responsibilities in the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, and there isn't a more delicate and important matter than the limitations placed on the government when it comes to dealing with our own citizens. I would like to ask the Senator from Kentucky whether he is aware of some of these issues. First of all, shortly after President Obama took office, the Holder Justice Department declassified and released detailed, previously top- secret legal memos attempting to explain the legal rationale for the enhanced interrogation program the Central Intelligence Agency used during the Bush administration. These memos were written by the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, which is frequently called the lawyer for the executive branch, which issues those authoritative memos.…”