Regarding Sonya Sotomayer
On May 27, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs warned "anybody involved in this debate to be exceedingly careful with the way in which they've decided to describe different aspects of this impending confirmation."
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Miguel Estrada
"If we allow a stealth right-winger on this court, we have only ourselves to blame....We must filibuster Miguel Estrada's nomination. ...We can't repeat the mistake we made with Clarence Thomas" - Sen. Ted Kennedy
"We had our criteria. The overarching or the most important consideration, of course, is the sensitivity and understanding of the historical role of courts to Latino communities or communities of color. And we found that his answers...did not reflect that type of sensitivity and understanding. -Rep. Charlie Gonzalez
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"With the re-nomination of Charles Pickering to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the White House called into question all of its promises to demonstrate that the Party of Abraham Lincoln was truly committed to civil rights" -Sen. Dick Durbin
"I think this nomination really lays bare the Administration's real position on civil rights. This exposes the Southern strategy clearly.....there is no question, his insensitivity to civil rights, to equal rights, especially to minorities is something that is well documented. This man does not deserve to be in the second highest court in the land. And we're gonna do everything we can to stop it." -Sen. Tom Daschle
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"How can someone who believes it is not the job of government to take care of the American people be entrusted to make fair and neutral decisions....? -Sen. Patrick Leahy
"She's a judicial activist who will roll back basic rights......Janice Rogers Brown's record shows a deep hostility to civil rights, to workers' rights, to consumer protection, and to a wide variety of governmental actions..." -Ted Kennedy
"It seems as if Justice Brown's mission is not blind justice but political activism. The only thing that seems to be consistent about her overarching judicial philosophy is an unyielding belief in an unfettered free market and a willingness to consistently side with the powerful over the powerless." -Sen. Barak Obama
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"I am very worried that, with Judge Roberts on the bench, the rights and freedoms that have made America a light to the rest of the world could be in serious jeopardy." -Sen Barbara Boxer
"....He has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak...He seemed....dismissive of efforts to eradicate the remnants of racial discrimination....and dismissive of the concerns that it is harder to make it in this world and in this economy when you are a woman rather than a man." -Barak Obama
"I was disturbed by memos that surfaced from Judge Roberts' years of service in the Reagan Administration. These documents raise serious questions about the nominee's approach to women's rights and other civil rights." -Sen. Harry Reid
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Samuel Alito
"The real question today is whether Judge Alito would use his seat on the bench, just as Rosa Parks used her seat on the bus, to change history for the better, or whether he would use that seat to reverse much of what Rosa Parks and so many others fought so hard and for so long to put in place." -Sen. Chuck Schumer
"No matter how smart he may be, no matter how cleverly his opinions may be written, no matter how skillfully he manipulates the law...none of these measurements consider whether Judge Alito routinely cuts off access to justice for the most disadvantaged Americans. They don't ask whether he consistently excuses excessive government force when it intrudes into the privacy of individuals." -Sen. John Kerry
