Political Quotes

“I fear that what is behind this misguided filibuster attempt is a continuation of a decades-long attempt by some Senate Republicans to play politics with the Federal court and, in particular, to engage in a rear guard action to preserve the D.C. Circuit as a Republican bastion, despite the fact that the American people elected a Democratic President. A recent Washington Post editorial urging the Senate to confirm Ms. Halligan's confirmation, suggested as much, stating: ``GOP senators are grasping at straws to block Ms. Halligan's ascension, perhaps in hopes of preserving the vacancy for a Republican president to fill.'' Yet again, we see some Senate Republicans shifting the standards they use and the arguments they make based on the party of the President making the nominations. They say one thing when President Clinton is in office, flip when the President is a Republican, and flop when the American people elect President Obama. When President Clinton nominated qualified moderates to vacancies on the D.C. Circuit, Republicans refused to proceed. The last of three Clinton nominees to the D.C. Circuit was confirmed in 1997, after being nominated in 1995 and stalled through the 1996 session when not a single circuit nominee was confirmed by the Senate Republican majority. When Senate Republicans stalled the nomination of Merrick Garland to the D.C.…”