Patrick Leahy

I commend Senator Gregg for his opening statement. I associate myself especially with his comments and concern related to corruption at the World Bank and the U.N. and in our assistance programs in Iraq. We have serious and nonpartisan…

I have no objection to presidents appointing close friends, but will he keep the kind of independence that a attorney general has to keep from the president?

It's been long enough.

Was he aware of the fact that he was taken off the agenda earlier at the request of the Republicans?

To answer that question, he was voted out for a district court judgeship, an entirely different type of judgeship than a court of appeals judgeship. It was in a package to be confirmed, I guess by unanimous consent, with the Republicans in…

The leadership over there has forgotten that we Democrats--we Democrats--have confirmed more of President Bush's nominees for any given period of time while we have been in charge than the Republicans did.

The witness testified that she had taken an oath to the President. I reminded her the oath is to the Constitution, not to any particular President.

On Tuesday, the distinguished senior Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter, and I came to the floor to offer our amendment--at least to get it filed--on habeas corpus, which has been joined by many Senators on both sides of the aisle…

When I was a young law student at Georgetown, the event that stands out the most in my memory was a morning that I and a few other young law students working at various agencies for the summer had with the then Attorney General. It was…

Would this also include the hundreds of billions of dollars we have borrowed so far for the war in Iraq?

I share his concern about expenditures. I wish we were back in the days of President Clinton, where we built up a surplus and started paying down the Federal debt; other than what a Republican-controlled Congress voted for, which has…

Would this mean we would not be able to continue to borrow money for the war in Iraq?

Today, we may finally make progress on security in another important setting by turning to the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007, S. 378. Frankly, this legislation should have been enacted last year but was not. It should not be a…

I don't believe that. You can't erase e-mails. Not today.

This is something the American people have a stake -- a stake in. Let them hear, and let them hear it in public and in open.

Well, we are going to issue subpoenas. We will probably issue them on Thursday, at least authorize the issuing of them on Thursday.

My gut tells me, there's a lot of political pressure in determining who is fired and who is not. And I want to know why.

President Bush insisted that there's weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, too.

Well that's what -- you know, he can say what he wants. All we want is the truth.

Well, we are going to issue subpoenas. We'll probably issue them on Thursday, or at least authorize the issuance of them on Thursday.

I want them under oath.

I support this nomination. I only wish President Clinton's nominees, many of whom had a long record of accomplishment, had received the treatment we are according this nominee. Instead, highly qualified nominees, such as Elena Kagan, now…

This is the Leahy-Thomas amendment. The Senate has rejected the last two amendments. This is the amendment that protects small and medium States. The Leahy-Thomas amendment would protect Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado…

We have set aside nearly 60 percent of these funds for special purposes, high-threat areas, areas that we determine need that money. We are talking about the all-State minimum going to what is remaining. Again, I hope someone is listening…

Very quickly. Vote against my amendment, and here are the States that lose: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland…