Senate Proceeding on Aug 5th, 2009 :: 0:54:10 to 1:00:25
Total video length: 5 hours 41 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:23 Duration: 0:06:15 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

0:54:07 to 0:54:27( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: too. mr. president, my colleagues to vote to confirm judge sotomayor. thank you very much. ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota's recognized. ms. klobuchar: i senator from michigan for her strong words in favor of this

0:54:10 to 1:00:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Amy Klobuchar

0:54:28 to 0:54:48( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: very strong nominee. as i was talking about earlier, i was the -- it was the experience that judge s brings to the bench as a prosecutor. for me it means she meets one of my criteria for a nominee, because i'm looking for someone who deeply appreciates the power and the impact that laws and the criminal justice system have on

0:54:49 to 0:55:10( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: real people's lives. from her first day in the manhattan d.a.'s office, judge sotomayor talked about and understood how it was important to be and not just the law. but when you talk about people, it means that you have to look at their cases and it means you have to look at the law and it

0:55:11 to 0:55:32( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: means you have to look at the facts. and one of the things that we learned in the hearings was that sometimes judge sotomayor had make very difficult decisions. when she was a prosecutor she had to turn down some cases, although she was by all accounts more aggressive than a lot of other prosecutors and took on some cases that many wouldn't. when she was a judge she

0:55:33 to 0:55:54( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: and turn away victims, like the case involving the crash of the t.w.a. flight. and she a number of other judges in there and said as much as she found the victims' fam that case to be incredibly sympathetic that the law took her somewhere else. that the facts and something else. you can see that in a number of her cases where -- which is part

0:55:55 to 0:56:15( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: of the reason people don't think of her -- who look at her record as a judicial activist, they look at her as a judicial moderate. someone in her own words who has fidelity to the law. now, what are a supreme court justice? well, i think actually one of sonia sotomayor's old bosses,

0:56:16 to 0:56:37( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: robert morgenthau he came and testified on her behalf. he said this quote many years ago about what he was looking for when he tried to find prosecutors for his office. and he said we want people with good judgment. because a lot of the job of a prosecutor is making decisions. he said i also want to see somes signs of humility in anybody that i hire. we're giving young

0:56:38 to 0:56:58( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: of power and we want to make sure that they're going to use that power with good sense and without arrogance. these are among the very same qualities that i look for in a supreme court justice. i too am looking for a person with good judgment. someone with intellectual curiosity and independence, but who also understands that her decisions affect the people

0:56:59 to 0:57:19( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: before her. with second essential quality, quality of humility. i'm looking appreciates the awesome responsibility that she will be given if confirmed, a justice who understands the gravity of the office and who respects the very different roles that the constitution provides for each of the three branches of

0:57:20 to 0:57:40( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: government, something that judge sotomayor was questioned on extensively in the hearing an made very clear that she respects those three different roles for the branches of government. finely, a good prosecutor knows that her job is to enforce the law without fear or favor. a supreme court justice must interpret the laws without fear or favor. i'm convinced that judge

0:57:41 to 0:58:04( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: sotomayor meets all of these criteria. she has been a judge for 17 years. 11 years a an appellate judge and six years as a trial judge. president george h.w. bush, gave her the first job she had as a federal judge in the southern district of new york. her nomination to the southern district was enthusiastically

0:58:05 to 0:58:25( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: supported daniel patrick moynihan republican senator d'amato. she was nominated by george h.w. bush, supported by a republican senator and confirmed unanimousl judge sotomayor, a i noted before, has more federal

0:58:26 to 0:58:46( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: judicial experience than any nonee in the past 100 years. and i think the best way to tell what kind of justice she'll be is to look at what kind of she's been. oneerson who knows a little bit about something sotomayor is a judge -- as a judge is louie freeh, the former director of the f.b.i., who serv

0:58:47 to 0:59:07( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: before he was the director of the f.b.i. and he he actually came, a republican appointee again, he came and testified for her at her hearing. and he didn't just testify based on a review of her record. he testi -- on his own personal experience. he was a mentor when she arrived as a new judge.

0:59:08 to 0:59:28( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: i want to read from the letter that he submitted to the judiciary committee. louis freeh writes -- it is with tremendous pride of a former colleague wholeheartedly that you confirm sonia sotomayor to be an associate justice of the supreme court. judge sotomayor has the extensive experience and the

0:59:29 to 0:59:49( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: judicial qualities that make her imminently qualified for this ultimate honor and i look forward to watching her take place her -- her place on the nation's highest court. freeh goes on to say, i first met judge sotomayor in 1992 when she was appointed to the united states district co southern districts of new york.

0:59:50 to 1:00:12( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: as the then newest judge in the storiedourthouse at foley square in lower manhattan, she followed the tradition of having the newly minted judge mentored by the last arriving member of the bench. despite the questionable wisdom of this practice, he went on, i had the privilege of serving as judge sotomayor's point of contact for for orientation and to help her get under way as she

1:00:13 to 1:00:26( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: took on a d criminal case docket. into this very pressurized and unforgiving environment were a