Political Quotes

“Mr. President, earlier today I announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its confirmation hearing on the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to be Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court beginning June 28. I have reached out to Senator Sessions, the committee's ranking Republican, to discuss the scheduling of this hearing, and we were finally able to meet yesterday. We worked cooperatively to send a bipartisan questionnaire to the nominee last week. We joined together to send a letter yesterday to the Clinton Library asking for files from Solicitor General Kagan's work in the White House during the Clinton administration. I will continue to consult with Senator Sessions to ensure that we hold a fair hearing. This is a reasonable schedule that is in line with past practice. The hearing on the nomination of Justice Kennedy was held just 33 days after his designation. The hearing on the nomination of Justice Ginsburg was held 36 days after her nomination. And the hearing on the nomination of Justice Rehnquist to be Chief Justice was held 42 days after his nomination. When John Roberts was first nominated to succeed Justice O'Connor, I agreed with the Republican Chairman to proceed 49 days after his designation even though he had not yet even received his answer to the committee's questionnaire.…”