Political Quotes

“Mr. President, yesterday it was my privilege to say a few words honoring Justice Antonin Scalia, known to his friends as ``Nino,'' a man whose intellect, wit, and dedication to our Constitution have served our country for decades. I am pleased that others have said appropriate words honoring his memory and the many ways he helped strengthen our constitutional self-government and our democracy. As we know, the Constitution gives the Senate an equal role in deciding who eventually is to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. President Obama called me and other members of the Judiciary Committee yesterday, saying he intends to exercise his constitutional authority, and I recognize his right to make that nomination. But not since 1932 has the Senate, in a Presidential election year, confirmed a Supreme Court nominee to a vacancy that arose in that Presidential election year. And it is necessary to go even further back--I believe to the administration of Grover Cleveland in 1888--to find an election-year nominee who was nominated and confirmed under a divided government, such as we have now. So I found it very curious that some of our colleagues across the aisle are effusive in their criticism of our decision to withhold consent until we have a new President and in effect say this ought to be a choice not just confined to the 100 Members of the Senate and the President but to the American people.…”