Senate Proceeding on Jun 24th, 2009 :: 6:02:40 to 6:13:10
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6:02:38 to 6:03:00( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: i will note that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle came to the floor yesterday to, as one news report described it "kickoff their camp so we want to take this opportunity to get the facts out, to correct any miscon exceptions, and to set the --

6:02:40 to 6:13:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Amy Klobuchar

6:03:01 to 6:03:21( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: miscon exceptions, and to set the record straight. the supreme court hearing for judge sonia sotomayor will begin july 13 but my consideration will not begin then. i began considering her the day she was announced because as a member of the judiciary committee much as i can about president obama's choice to fill one of

6:03:22 to 6:03:44( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the most important jobs country. even though there are many questions that will be asked and many areas that we will want to focus on, i would like to speak today a appears to me, based on my initial review. after meeting with her and learning about her, i'm very positive about

6:03:45 to 6:04:05( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: judge sotomayor knows the constitution, she knows the law, but she also knows america. i know americans have heard a lot of things about her -- her background, her long career as a judge -- but it is really important for what is solid nominee she is, because we have to ke in mind that there have been some accusations, some misstatements,

6:04:06 to 6:04:27( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: many of them made by people outside of this chamber, on tv and 24/7 cable, but there have been some misstatements. it really all came to me a few weeks ago, mr. president, when i was in the airport in the twin cities in minnesota pands a guy came up to me on the tram in the airport and he said, hey, you

6:04:28 to 6:04:49( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: know how you're voting on that woman? i said, well, i want to listen to her and see how she answers some of the questions. he said, i'm worried. i said, why are you worried? he said, because she's always putting her emotions in front of the law.

6:04:50 to 6:05:11( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: panel with three judges which they often do, time she com to an agreement with the republican-appointed judge on the panel? so you must be thinking the same thing about those gs because you can't just say that about her. so that incident made me think that we really need to set the record straight here about the facts, that we be ambassadors of

6:05:12 to 6:05:32( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: trut about judge sotomayor, about her record, and about what kind of judge that we're looking for on the united states supreme court. we need gets the same, civil, fair treatment that other nominees have been given. judge sotomayor's story, mr. president, is a classic american story about what is

6:05:33 to 6:05:53( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: possible in our country through hard work. she grew up in her own words in modest and challenging circumstances and she worked hard for every single thing she got. many of you know her story. her dad died when she was nine years old and her mom sported her and her brother by herself. her mom was devoted to her

6:05:54 to 6:06:14( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: children's education. in fact, her mom was so devoted to her education and her brother's education that she actually saved every penny she could so she could bu encyclopedia britannicas for her kids and thireally meant a lot to meevment i remember growing up, thencyclopedia britannicas

6:06:15 to 6:06:35( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: in the hallway were like in a hallowed place. i now show my daughter who is 13 and these are from the 1960's. she doesn't seem very interested in them, but they meant a lot to our family and they clearly meant a lot to judge sotomayor. she graduated from princeton summa cum laude and f.b.i. bet

6:06:36 to 6:06:59( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: at that kappa and was one of two people to wint highest award that prifnston gives to undergraduates. she went on to yale law school which launched a three decades'-long career in the law. so when commentators have questioned whether she was smart enough, i'm lirks you can't make this up. you can't make up f.b.i. bet at that cap pavment you can't make up that you have these high

6:07:00 to 6:07:21( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: awards and that you're summa cum laude and phi bet at that kappa. these are into evidence. since graduating, the judge has a varied and interesting legal career. she's worked as a private -- in the private sector as a litigator. she's been a district court and an appellate court judge and she's taught law school classes.

6:07:22 to 6:07:43( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: but the one experience of hers that particularly resonates for me is that immediately graduating from law school, she spent five yes as a prosecutor at the manhattan district attorney's office, which was one of the busiest and most well-thought-of prosecutors' offices in our country. at that time it paid about half as much as a scrob in the private sector, but she wanted

6:07:44 to 6:08:04( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the challenge and the trial experience, as we met, and she took the job as a prosecutor. before i entered the senate, prosecutor, managing an office of about 400 people in minute, the biggest prosecutor office in our state. so i was very interested in this experience that common. one of the things that i learned

6:08:05 to 6:08:28( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: -- and i really quickly learned that she understood based on our discussions -- is that as a prosecutor, the law is not just some dusty book in your basement. after you've inter victims of a crime, after you've seen the damage the crime can do to a community, the havoc that it can wreak, after you have interacted with defendants who

6:08:29 to 6:08:50( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: are goingo persist on and you've seen-- --who are going to prison and you've interacted, you see that the law has had a real impact on real people. as a prosecutor, you don't just have to know the law. you have to know people. you have to know human nature. ms. sotomayor's former

6:08:51 to 6:09:11( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: supervisor hugh mo said that she was a commanding figure in the courtroom who would weave together a complex set of facts, enforce the law, and sight of who she was fighting for. and of course she was fighting for the people -- for the people in those neighborhoods. she was fighting for the victims of crime. judge sotomayor's experience as

6:09:12 to 6:09:34( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: a prosecutor tells me that she meets one of my criteria for supreme court nominee. i'm looking for someone who deeply appreciates the power and impact that laws have and that the criminal justice system has on real people's lives. from her first day at that manhattan district attorney's office, judge sotomayor learned

6:09:35 to 6:09:57( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: that the law is not just an abstraction. in addition to her work as prosecutor, i've also learned a lot about judge sotomayor from her long record as a judge. she has been a judge for 17 years, 11 years as an appellate judge, and six years as a trial judge. president george h.w. bush shall the first president bush, gave

6:09:58 to 6:10:18( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: her the first job she had as a federal judge. so she was actually nominated by a republican president. the job was to be judgin the southern district of new york. her nomination to the southern district was enthusiastically supported by both new york senators -- democratic senator daniel patrick moynihan and

6:10:19 to 6:10:40( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: republican senator alfonse d'amato. now, if you watch tv or read newspapers or blogs, you know that judge sotomayor has been called some names. this always happened in these supreme court nomination processes. she has been called names by talkingheads on tv and on radio and in most cases these commentators may have read a case or two of hers, or even

6:10:41 to 6:11:02( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: worse they just read a speech and took a sentence or so out of context, and they've decided that they are entitled to make a sweeping judgment about her judicial fitness based on a few words that have been taken out of context. i think just about everything in a nominee's professional record is fair game to consider.

6:11:03 to 6:11:24( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: after all, we're obligated to determine whether to confirm someon important position with lifetime tenure. that i take very seriously. but that said, when people get upset about a few items in a few speeches that a judge has given, i have to wonder, do a few

6:11:25 to 6:11:45( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: statements that someoneas made in public for which they've said they could have used different words, do those trump 17 years of modest, reasoned, careful i don't think so. if we wt to know what kind of a justice she'll be, isn't our best evidence to look at the type of judge she's already been?

6:11:46 to 6:12:06( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: here are the facts: as a trial judge, judge sotomayor presided over roughly 450 cases on the second circuit. she's participated in more than 3,000 panel decisions. she's authored more than 200 appellate decisions and in cases where judge sotomayor and at least one republican-appointed

6:12:07 to 6:12:27( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: judge set son a three-judge pan panel, judge sotomayor and the republican-appointed judge agreed 95% of the time. the supreme court has only reviewed five cases where she authored the decision and it affirmed the two of them. so the vast majority of her cases, the vast majority of her cases, have not been in any way overturned or reversed by a

6:12:28 to 6:12:48( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: higher court. it's worth noting that this nominee, if confirmed, would bring more federal judicial experience to the supreme court than so with colleagues is here, the senator from new hampshire, and we're going to have a number of women

6:12:49 to 6:13:10( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: senators here today i'll come back and finish my remarks sometime in this half-hour. but i thought it was very important that senator shaheen, the senator from new hampshire, be able to say a few about the nominee. thank you very much,