Pete Sessions: “I am honored to be in this great body and particularly honored today to be able to say a few words from my heart about…”

“I am honored to be in this great body and particularly honored today to be able to say a few words from my heart about the Senator from South Carolina. I have no doubt really that I would not be here today if it were not for Senator Thurmond. I first met him--and this is typical of his leadership and commitment to this country--when I was a U.S. attorney in the early 1980's. I had just been appointed. There was a reception the Attorney General of the United States had. He came to that reception and stayed 30 to 40 minutes. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he stayed and he met every U.S. attorney in attendance that night before he left. That demonstrated to me his commitment to law and order. Many people have talked about his leadership with regard to military matters, and they are certainly legendary and unsurpassed in this body. But in terms of law enforcement, he has been an absolutely key figure in the reform of the Federal criminal justice system in America, that makes our Federal criminal justice system today, in my opinion, superior to any State criminal justice system.”