WASHINGTON, D.C. – Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States.

                                                           

Few positions carry more honor, or solemn duty, than becoming a Justice of the highest court of the greatest democracy.

 

Few duties carry more honor, or solemn responsibility, than giving advice and consent on who should become a Justice on the highest court of the greatest democracy.

 

The walls of that Supreme Court form the vessel that holds the great protections of our liberty.

 

Those black robes give life to the Constitution’s freedoms and the flourishing of our ideas and beliefs.

 

If the Congress is the heart of our democracy, walking to the drumbeat of the people,  then the Supreme Court is our soul guiding us on what is right and what is wrong.

 

In my role as a Senator voting to fill that vessel, issuing those robes, I have always looked to the Constitution to guide my obligation to give advice and consent.      

                                   

It is an obligation separate and apart from my role as a legislator, when I vote for or against legislation before this body.

 

Indeed, if the Constitution meant for us merely to vote on nominees, by simple or super majorities, it could easily have said so.

 

If we were meant to do nothing more than cast a vote based on whether we agreed or disagreed with a nominee, where would we be then? 

 

Would the halls of government be empty every time a President faced a Congress of the opposite party? 

 

Would the Cabinet sit empty because of partisan divide?

 

Would vacancies to the Supreme Court go unfilled, because a majority of one party simply disagreed with the President of another?                 

 

Of course, that could not have been the intent of the framers.

 

What kind of justices would we have, with nothing more than partisan majority divides?

 

Would a Senate controlled by the opposite party allow only the most moderate of voices, or justices with no voice at all?

 

Would it approve only judges that said nothing, or wrote nothing with which the Majority disagreed?

           

If some are saying that a Democratic President should not have a liberal Justice, does that mean a Republican President should not have conservative Justices? 

 

That is not something I could support, for I surely supported judicially conservative Justices such as Roberts and Alito, Thomas and Bork - Scalia certainly if I had been in the Senate at the time. 

                                   

That is the kind of Justice I support, a judge that calls balls and strikes like an umpire, not letting their own personal views bias the outcome of the trial.

 

The statue of justice is blindfolded for a reason, so that she cannot tip the scales of justice with the prejudice of bias or belief.

 

But I have supported Justices with whom I disagreed on this philosophy.  Justices Breyer and Ginsberg come to mind.

 

They take a more active role in shaping their decisions, to fit an ideal of their own vision.

 

I supported these nominees of a Democratic president, as did 86 of my colleagues for Justice Breyer, and 95 of my colleagues for Justice Ginsberg.

 

I hope those votes do not reflect a time that has slipped away, when partisanship did not infect every facet of our political life.

 

I cannot forget that time, as President Obama did when he was Senate.                                 

 

I could easily say, as Senator Obama said, that I disagree with a nominee’s judicial approach, and that allows me to oppose the nominee of a different party.

 

Luckily for President Obama, I do not agree with Senator Obama.

 

I reject the Obama approach to nominees.

 

While I reject the way Senator Obama approached nominations, that does not mean that I support the way Judge Sotomayor approaches judging.

 

I disagree that the civil rights of a firefighter mean so little that they do not deserve even a full opinion before an appeals court.

 

I disagree that we should inspire with suggestions that wisdom has anything to do with the sex of a person or the color of their skin.

 

I disagree that judges should ever consider foreign law when looking for meaning in U.S. statutes or the U.S. Constitution.

 

I disagree that the Second Amendment’s protection of an individual’s right to bear arms does not apply to States.

 

But I do agree that Judge Sotomayor has proven herself a well qualified jurist.

 

I do agree that she has proven herself as a talented and accomplished student, federal prosecutor, corporate litigator, federal trial judge, and federal appeals court judge. 

 

She has the backing of many in the law enforcement community including the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, and the National Association of District Attorneys.      

 

I do agree that Judge Sotomayor has proven herself as a leader of her community, who inspires the pride and hopes of a large and growing portion of our American melting pot.

 

I do agree that Judge Sotomayor has proven herself as a symbol of breaking through glass ceilings.

 

And I do agree that my choice for President did not win the last election, and that our people’s democracy have spoken for the change and they are getting it.   Elections do have consequences.

 

Now, hearing the call of that decision of our democracy does not mean that I support the President in everything he has proposed.                                

 

I did not agree with a stimulus that has meant only more government spending and national debt as the unemployment continues to rise.

 

I do not agree with cap and trade legislation that will raise energy taxes and kill millions of lost jobs without even changing the climate because China and India refuse to act the same.

 

I do not agree with a government takeover of health care that forces millions of Americans off their current health care, drives health care costs event higher for families, rations care, restricts access to the latest cures and treatments, and puts health care decisions in the hands of government bureaucrats rather than doctors and patients. 

 

But I do agree that the country is tired of partisanship infecting every debate.  The country is tired of every action by the Congress becoming a political battle.

 

And so, I will not follow the hypocrisy of many of my Democratic colleagues who refused to support Justices Roberts and Alito because they disagreed with their judicial philosophy and now suggest that Republicans not do the same.

 

I respect and agree with the legal reasoning of my colleagues who will vote no, but I will follow the direction of the past, and my hope for the future, with less polarization, less confrontation, less partisanship.

 

My friends in the party can be assured that I will work as hard as anybody to ensure that the next Presidential election has consequences in the opposite direction. 

 

For my conservative friends, the best way to ensure that we have conservative judges on the bench, is to work to see that we elect Presidents who will nominate them. 

 

Then we can resume filling the bench with more judges like Justice Roberts.                        

 

For my liberal friends I hope they remember this day when another qualified nominee is before the Senate who is conservative.  The standard set by Senator Obama should not govern the Senate.      

 

As for Judge Sotomayor, she has the accomplishments and qualities that have always meant Senate confirmation for such a nomination.

 

The Senate has reviewed her nomination and has asked her its questions.  There has been no significant findings against her.   There has been no public uprising against her. 

 

I do not believe that the Constitution tells me that I should refuse to support her merely because I disagree with her.

 

I will support her.  I will be proud for her, the community she represents and the American dream she shows possible.

 

I will cast my vote in favor of the nomination of Judge Sotomayor, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

 

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