Patrick Leahy: “on this rainy morning in our Nation's Capital, we just learned the sad news of the passing of Coretta Scott King. We are…”

“on this rainy morning in our Nation's Capital, we just learned the sad news of the passing of Coretta Scott King. We are reminded again of the crucial role our courts played in making real the promises of our national charter, the Constitution. It was the courts to whom Dr. Martin Luther King spoke, and they responded. The Nation mourns the loss of another civil rights leader and is reminded again of the vital role our courts play as the place where ordinary Americans can turn for justice when justice is denied them. Coretta Scott King and her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., put their lives on the line to bring those promises to untold millions of Americans. Let us never squander or take for granted all that has been achieved. Let us keep their dream alive. That is why, since this debate began last Wednesday, I posed the fundamental question this nomination raises: whether the Senate is going to serve its constitutional role as a check on the President by preserving the Supreme Court as a constitutional check on the expansion of Presidential power. This nomination now before us is an unacceptable threat to the fundamental rights and liberties for all Americans now and for generations to come. This President is in the midst of a radical realignment of the powers of the Government and its intrusiveness into the private lives of Americans.…”