Senate Proceeding on Aug 5th, 2009 :: 1:16:55 to 1:26:00
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:64 Duration: 0:09:05 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

1:16:52 to 1:17:12( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i first want to thank the senator from washington for her excellent remarks on behalf of judge sotomayor. during this hour, we've heard from several of my colleagues, all strongly supporting judge sotomayor. and i have talked, first of all, about her growing up and her difficult circumstances. i spoke about her work as a

1:16:55 to 1:26:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Amy Klobuchar

1:17:13 to 1:17:33( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: prosecutor and the support she's received from her prosecutorial colleagues. talked about her work as a judge and read extensively from a letter director of the f.b.i. and former judge. and now on the final part of my talk here, i wanted to address some of the other issues that

1:17:34 to 1:17:54( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: have been raised with respect to judge sotomayor. i have to say, mr. president, i woke up this morning to the radio on my clock radio and heard one of my colleagues who decided that he was not going to support her in his words because of the empathy standard. and i kind of put the pillow over my head and i thought, you know, he must not have been sitting in the hearings.

1:17:55 to 1:18:16( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: because she was specifically asked by one of the other senators about how she views t cases. and he specifically asked she agreed with president obama if you should use your heart as well as the law. she agree with that. i look at the law and i look at the facts. people can say all kinds of things about her, i

1:18:17 to 1:18:37( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: like, but i suggest they look at her record. my colleagues in the senate are entitled to oppose her nomination, if they wish. that's their but i'm concerned that some ople keep returning aga again to some quotes in speeches, a quote that she actually said, a phrase that she didn't mean to offend anyone, and she should have put it differently.

1:18:38 to 1:18:58( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: when you have 17 years of a record as a judge, what's more important? 17 years as a recor of a judge or one phrase that she basically said was n the words she meant to use. what's more important? in the words moynihan, you are entitled to your own opinion, but youre

1:18:59 to 1:19:20( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: not entitled to your own facts. so let's look at the facts of her judicial record. this nominee was repeatedly questioned -- and i sat there through nearly all of it. she was questioned for hours. she was questione about whether she would let bias or prejudice infect her judging. but, again, support these claims.

1:19:21 to 1:19:42( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: in race discrimination cases, mr. president, for example, judge sotomayor vot plaintiffs 81% of the time. she also handed out longer jail sentences than her colleagues as she sentenc white collar criminals to at least six months in prison, 48% of the time. whereas her other colleagues did

1:19:43 to 1:20:04( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: so only 34% of the time. and in drug indications, 5.5% of convicted drug offenders received a prison -- 85.5% of convicted drug offenders received a prison sentence fro judge sotomayor sotomayor compared to 79% of her colleagues' cases.

1:20:05 to 1:20:26( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: a few weeks ago i was at the minnesota airport and a guy came up to me and ask if i was going to vote for that woman? i said, what do you mean? she said that judge. i said i actually went to -- i want to meet her first. this is before i met her. i said questions before i make a decision. he said i don't know how you do that. because she always let's her

1:20:27 to 1:20:47( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: feelings get in front of the law. this guy needs statistics. he needs to hear the statistics that senator gillibrand was talking about. the statistics when she served on the bench with a republican-appointed colleague, 98% of the time they made the same decision. i guess you could say that the

1:20:48 to 1:21:09( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: republican-appointed judges are letting their feelings get in front of the law. 95% of the time sided with a republican-appointed judge colleague. during the sotomayor was questioned about the death penalty and her use of the foreign law i'd this was repeatedly mentioned that she might use foreign law to decide a death penalty case.

1:21:10 to 1:21:31( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: what do we have as facts and evidence? there was one case of the death penalty came before her and she rejected the claim of someone who wando say that the death penalty wouldn't apply when she was a district court judge. and she never cited foreign law. there was no mention of france or any kind of law anywhere in that decision. those are the facts in judicial record.

1:21:32 to 1:21:53( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: in no place has she ever cited foreign law to help her interpret a provision of the united states constitution. you know, i believe that about everything in a nominee's professional record is fair game to consider. afterall, we are obligated to determine whether to confirm someone for an incredibly important lifetime position. that's our constitutional duty,

1:21:54 to 1:22:15( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: and i take it seriously. with that said, focus on a few items and a few speeches that judge sotomayor has given phrases which she has basically said she would have said differently if she had another ask yourself, again, did those statements, are they outweighed by the record? are they owayed by the facts?

1:22:16 to 1:22:36( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: check out these endorsements, mr. president of people who looked at her record and looked at how she's come out on decisions. you have an endorsement from the national association supporting her. you have the support from the police executive research forum. you have the support from the national fraternal order of place.

1:22:37 to 1:22:57( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: not exactly a raging liberal organization. you have the national sheriff's association. again, these are the facts. these are the facts that my colleagues should be looking at. you have the support from international association of chiefs of police. you have the support of the major city's chief association. she has national

1:22:58 to 1:23:19( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: organizations. she has the support of the association of prosecuting attorneys. she have letters supporting her from the detectives, from the national black prosecutors association from the national organization of black law enforcement list goes on and on and on. those are the facts.

1:23:20 to 1:23:40( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: unanimous, top rating from the a.b.a., american bar association. those are the facts. i believe if we want to know what sotomayor will be, our best evidence is to look at the kind of judge she's been. and i wanted to address one more thing that i mentioned at the judiciary hea

1:23:41 to 1:24:02( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: our votes for judge sotomayor, and that's been a point that ir stories and comments, mostly anonymous, about judge sotomayo according to one source, judge sotomayor developed a reputation of asking tough questions at oral arguments and sometimes being brisk and curt with

1:24:03 to 1:24:23( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: lawyers not prepared to answer them. well, where i come from asking tough questions, mr. president, and having little patience for unprepared lawyers, is the very definition for being a judge. as a lawyer you bench and your clits to be as well prepared as you ploibl can be. when justice ginsberg were asked about the anonymous comments of

1:24:24 to 1:24:46( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: judge sotomayor recently she rhetorically asked -- has anyone watched i scalia or breyer on the bench? surely we've come to a president, when we as many to the point gruff female judges as we've confirmed to the point gruff mail we've come a long way, as you

1:24:47 to 1:25:07( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: can see from my colleagues that came here during the last hour. we know that when sandra day o'connor graduated from law school 50 years ago, the only position she was offered was for the position at a law office as legal secretary. judge sotomayor faced similar obstacles.

1:25:08 to 1:25:28( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: i hope that my colleagues will also come a long way and look at record, look at the facts. as i've said, people are entitled to their own opinions, but they're not entitled to their own facts. in short, mr. president, i proud to support judge sotomayor's nomination, and i believe she will make an excellent supreme court justice. she knows the l cotitution.

1:25:29 to 1:25:52( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: but she knows america too. thank you, mr. president, and i

1:25:53 to 1:26:02( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: yield t f ms. klobuchar: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk