John Cornyn: “I know sometimes that when people hear us engage in these debates, they think we don't like each other and we can't work…”

“I know sometimes that when people hear us engage in these debates, they think we don't like each other and we can't work together; that we are so polarized, we are dysfunctional. Actually, these Senators are my friends in addition to being colleagues. Let me just explain how I think their concerns are misplaced. First of all, we all care about, on the spectrum of privacy to security, how that is dialed in. As the Presiding Officer knows, as the former attorney general of Alaska, we always try to strike the right balance between individual privacy and safety and security and law enforcement, and sometimes we have differences of opinion as to where exactly on that spectrum that ought to be struck, but the fundamental problem with the requests that have been made today is, Federal Rule Of Criminal Procedure 41 has already been the subject of a lengthy 3-year process with a lot of thoughtful input, public hearings, and deliberation. As the Presiding Officer knows, the courts have the inherent power to write their own rules of procedure, and that is what this is, part of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. What happens is a pretty challenging process when we want to change a Federal rule of criminal procedure. We have to get it approved by the Rules Advisory Committee. It is made up of judges, law professors, and practicing lawyers. Then it has to be approved by the Judicial Conference. Then, as in this case, they have to be endorsed by the U.S.…”