Political Quotes

“I am concerned when I hear attempts to tie Mr. Garland's nomination to the number of judges in the D.C. circuit. Let us remember that Mr. Garland is there to fill the 11th seat on the D.C. circuit, not the 12th seat. Even Judge Silberman, who has argued for abolishing the 12th seat for this court, has testified that "it would be a mistake, a serious mistake, for Congress to reduce down below 11 judges." That is a verbatim quote from Judge Silberman. But we should also remember that when we just put numbers here, numbers do not tell the whole story. The D.C. circuit's docket is by far the most complex and difficult in the Nation. You can have a dozen routine matters in another circuit and one highly complex issue involving the U.S. Government in the D.C. circuit, brought because it is the D.C. circuit, that one would go on and equal the dozen or more anywhere else. We can debate later on the size of the D.C. circuit, whether it should be 11 or 12. But we are talking about the 11th seat. And what Senators ought to be talking about is the fact that Merrick Garland is a superb nominee.”