Senate Proceeding on Aug 5th, 2009 :: 0:44:00 to 0:49:50
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0:43:51 to 0:44:12( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: thank you, mr. president, and thank i yield back the floor to senator ms. klobuchar: thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota is recognized. ms. klobuchar: mr. president. having looked sotomayor's whole record, as

0:44:00 to 0:49:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Amy Klobuchar

0:44:13 to 0:44:34( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: senator shaheen pointed 17 years on the bench and the fairness and the integrity that she will bring to the job, i am proud to support her nomination. when judge sotomayor's nomination was first announced, i was impressed by her life story, which all of us know well by now. she grew up in, in her own words, in modest and challenging

0:44:35 to 0:44:55( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: circumstances, and she worke hard for everything she got. her dad died when she years old, and her mom supported her and her and one of my favorite images as a member of the judiciary committee from the hearing was her mother sitting behind her every moment of that hearing, never leaving her side.

0:44:56 to 0:45:19( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the mother that raised her on a nurse's salary, who penny she had just to buy an encyclopedia britannica for their family. that struck me because i know our family we also had a set of encyclopedias that had a hallowed place in our hallway and that's what i used to write our reports.

0:45:20 to 0:45:40( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: she went on to graduate from princeton summa cum laude and phi beta kappa before graduating from law school. she has worked civil litigator, been a district court and appellate court judge, and she's taught law school classes. but one experience of hers in particular resonates with me.

0:45:41 to 0:46:02( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: immediately afte from law school she spent five years as a prosecutor at the manhattan district attorney's office. i want to about that because it's something that she and i have in common. i was a prosecutor, myself, mr. president. you know what's that like to have that duty. i was a prosecutor for minnesota's largest county.

0:46:03 to 0:46:23( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: as a prosecutor after you interacted with victims of crime, after you've seen the damage crime does to individuals in our communities, after you've seen defendants who are going to prison, and we know their families are sometimes forever, you know that the law is not just an abstract subject.

0:46:24 to 0:46:45( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: it is not just a dusty book in a basement. the law has a real impact on the real lives of real people. it also has a big impact on the individual prosecutor. no matter how many years may pass, you of the very difficult cases. for judge sotomayor, we know

0:46:46 to 0:47:06( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: this is the case of the serial killer turned burglary. for me it was the case of taisha edwards, an 11-year-old girl with an unforgettable s she was at home doing her homework when a bullet went through a window and killed her. as a prosecutor, you can't just know the law, you have to know

0:47:07 to 0:47:29( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the people. you have to know human nature. as judge sotomayor's former supervisor said, she is an imposing figure in the courtroom. someone who could weave together a complex set of facts, enforce the law an never lose sight of whom she was fighting for.

0:47:30 to 0:47:50( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: as her old boss robert morgenthau said, she is a fearless an effective prosecutor. before i turn this over to my colleague, the senator from michigan, i think it would be interesting for people to hear a little more about judge experience as a prosecutor. and you can hear this firsthand from her own colleagues.

0:47:51 to 0:48:12( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: this was a lette dozens of her colleagues that actually worked with her -- worked with her when she was prosecutor. it wasn't her bosses necessarily. this is what they said in the letter -- they said we served together during some of the most difficult years in our city's history. crime was soaring, a general sense of disorder preveiled in

0:48:13 to 0:48:33( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the streets and the popular attitude was that increasing violence was inevitable. sonia sotomayor, they sayn this letter, began as a rookie in 1979, working long hours prosecuting an enormous caseload of misdemeanor.

0:48:34 to 0:48:54( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: she was so challenged herself that she was among the first in her starting class to be selected to handle felonies. she prosecuted a wide variety of felony cases including serving as a co-counsel in a trial. throughout awful this she impressed us -- this is from her colleagues, as one who was

0:48:55 to 0:49:15( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: singularly determined in fighting crime and violence. for sonia, service as a prosecutor was a way to order to the streets of the city she dearly loves. they go on -- we are proud to have served with sonia sotomayor. she solemnly adheres to the rule of law and believes that it should be applied equally and

0:49:16 to 0:49:37( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: fairly to all americans. as a group, says this group of dozens of prosecutors who were her colleagues, as a group we have different world views and political afill aitionz, but our support for sonia is entirely nonpartisan. and the fact that so many of us have remained friends with sonia

0:49:38 to 0:49:52( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: over three we think it speaks of her warmth and collegiality. mr. president, i see that my colleague from michigan has arrived. i will continue my statement when she is -- has hers.