Political Quotes

“today, we are again voting to overcome Republican filibusters of four highly qualified judicial nominees. The nominees are Judge Robin Rosenbaum to fill an emergency vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; Indira Talwani to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts; James Peterson to fill an emergency vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin; and Nancy Rosenstengel to fill an emergency vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Before proceeding with the qualifications of these four judicial nominees, I would like to address some questions regarding the nomination of David Barron. Mr. Barron has been nominated to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. There have been press accounts that Senate Republicans are placing a hold on Mr. Barron's nomination because they are seeking access to a Justice Department memorandum regarding Anwar Al-Awlaki, an Al Qaeda leader who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. Since Senate Republicans have blocked every single judicial nominee this year from receiving an up-or-down vote, it comes as no surprise that they would attempt to block Mr. Barron as well. This is nothing new. As for the Justice Department memo, the majority leader and I have urged the administration to make the memo available to all Senators, and the administration has agreed.…”