Russ Feingold: “making a decision on a Supreme Court nomination is truly among the most important responsibilities of the Senate. I have…”

“making a decision on a Supreme Court nomination is truly among the most important responsibilities of the Senate. I have given the nominations the President has sent to us in the past 6 months serious and careful consideration. The scrutiny to be applied to a President's nominee to the Supreme Court is the highest of any nomination. I have voted for executive branch appointees, and even for court of appeals nominees, whom I would not necessarily vote to put on the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, alone among our courts, has the power to revisit and reverse its precedents, and so I believe that anyone who sits on that Court must not have a preset agenda to reverse precedents with which he or she disagrees and must recognize and appreciate the awesome power and responsibility of the Court to do justice when other branches of Government infringe on or ignore the freedoms and rights of all citizens. This is not a new standard. It is the same standard I applied to the nomination of Chief Justice Roberts. In that case, after careful consideration, I decided to vote in favor of the nomination. In the case of Judge Samuel Alito, after the same careful consideration, I must vote no. Judge Alito has an impressive background and a very capable legal mind, but I have grave concerns about how he would rule on cases involving the application of the Bill of Rights in a time of war.…”