Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to discuss the pending vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, and I do so on a very momentous day in American legal history. May 17, today, is the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in the pivotal case of Brown v. Board of Education. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that the promise of equality--stated as paramount in the Declaration of Independence and then reaffirmed in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution passed in the aftermath of the Civil War--could not be denied to little school children based on their skin color. The Brown v. Board case was actually five cases consolidated together--one from Virginia, one from Kansas, one from Delaware, one from South Carolina, and one from the District of Columbia. While most of us know what the Brown case resolved, few remember that the Brown ruling was in serious jeopardy because of the death of a Supreme Court Justice and the deep divisions on the Court among the remaining eight members. It was only through the prompt filling of a judicial vacancy that the Court was able to come together and render a ruling in America's best interest. The Brown case was originally argued in 1952, and the court that heard the argument was hopelessly divided. In fact, it was so divided that they asked that the case be reargued in 1953, and then to make matters worse, Chief Justice Fred Vinson died before the reargument.…”