Political Quotes

“I want to turn now to another issue. This time last year, I rose to express concern about the final decisions of the Supreme Court's 1998 Term, in which it struck down on federalism grounds three important pieces of bipartisan legislation. Another Supreme Court Term has now ended, and this Term's victims include the Violence Against Women Act and, as applied to State employees, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. I see my distinguished friend from Delaware in the Chamber, and I know he has spoken extensively on this. I believe it bears repeating. We have seen a growing trend of judicial second-guessing of congressional policy decisions, both in the Supreme Court and in some of the lower Federal courts. Most troubling to me is the encroachment of the Federal judiciary on the legitimate functions of the Federal legislative branch in matters that are perceived by the courts to impact the States. We ought to all be concerned about this because it affects our constitutional system of checks and balances. We ought to ask ourselves how we can have a situation where an unelected group of Supreme Court Justices can over and over substitute their judgment for the judgment of the elected representatives of this country.”