Political Quotes

“first, I do thank the distinguished majority leader for keeping the commitment he made to me, to Senator Daschle, to the two Senators from California, and others last year to bring these nominations to a vote. I appreciate that. I wish, of course, he would vote for the two nominees, but that is his right. We keep talking about these reversal rates, the Ninth Circuit being reversed the most. Of course, that is not the case. I will put in the Record later on a letter from Chief Judge Hug, who shows a number of circuits that have been reversed far more than the Ninth Circuit. I will also point out, as I did earlier, about half of the most recent reversals have been on decisions written by appointees of President Reagan and appointees of President Bush. So I would not be blaming President Clinton for this. We have heard a great deal about the so-called panhandling decision. The judge had no choice in that matter. He had a case on all fours from his own circuit. As a district judge, he had to follow that decision. Whether he liked it or not, that is what he had to follow. Subsequently, when his own circuit reversed its position on it, then he would have to follow the new position. Last, I am disturbed to have it suggested that the judge could not tell litigants in a courtroom that they could not wave anything in the face of jurors, whether it is a Bible or a newspaper. I yield to nobody in this body in my defense of the first amendment.”