Sen. Cardin Statement at Hearing: "WE THE PEOPLE? CORPORATE SPENDING IN AMERICAN ELECTIONS
(Democrat - Maryland) 03/10/10
"The Supreme Court runs the risk here of literally returning to Lochner-era jurisprudence of the 1920's and 1930's, which threatened numerous New Deal programs as America was trying to recover from the Great Depression. That Court's extreme views on the rights and privileges of corporations – at the expense of society and the American people – were ultimately rejected by the President, Congress, American people, and ultimately by the Supreme Court itself."

Sen. Russ Feingold Statement at Hearing on "We the People? Corporate Spending in American Elections after Citizens United"
(Democrat - Wisconsin) 03/10/10
"The Citizens United decision was a tragic mistake. A mistake because the Court reached out to decide constitutional questions that were not necessary to decide the case and not raised or addressed by the courts below. Tragic because the Court damaged its own reputation and integrity by reversing precedents unnecessarily and, most important, because it opened the door to a political system that, more than ever, can be dominated and distorted by corporate wealth."

Sen. Leahy Floor Statement on Judicial Nominations
(Democrat - Vermont) 03/04/10
"Earlier this week we had to overcome Republican objection and a filibuster to obtain a vote on the nomination of Judge Barbara Keenan. She, too, was confirmed unanimously, 99 to zero. Yet Republicans would not agree to schedule a vote on her nomination. She was forced to wait four months after being reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate was required to end the Republican filibuster."

Sen. Durbin Floor Statement on Nomination of Barbara Keenan
(Democrat - Illinois) 03/02/10
"When the Democrats were in the minority under President Bush, we voted against cloture on a handful of his judicial nominees, but only the most controversial and only those for appellate court positions. Under President Obama, Senate Republicans have filibustered and stalled almost every judicial nominee sent forward, regardless of the court and regardless of the controversy.... Justice Keenan was forced to wait over four times longer than the average Bush circuit court nominee who was confirmed."

Sen. Leahy: Senate Confirms Keenan To Fourth Circuit
(Democrat - Vermont) 03/02/10

Sen. Cardin Floor Statement on Fourth Circuit Nominee Barbara Keenan
(Democrat - Maryland) 03/02/10

Sen. Dianne Feinstein Statement at Judicary Comm. Hearing “The Office of Professional Responsibility Investigation into the Office of Legal Counsel Memoranda"
(Democrat - California) 02/26/10
"The Office of Legal Counsel opinions written by former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo and former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee contained deeply flawed legal reasoning that paved the way for the CIA's disastrous use of coercive interrogation techniques.... The techniques that John Yoo and Jay Bybee authorized had been honed by repressive regimes and zealots from the Spanish Inquisition to the Khmer Rouge. They were techniques designed to force false confessions and to punish, not to elicit accurate intelligence. And they were techniques that the U.S. military trained its personnel to resist, precisely because they were gruesome and fell outside the norms established in the Geneva Conventions for appropriately handling prisoners of war."

Statement Of Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),Hearing On The Office of Professional Responsibility Investigation Into the Office of Legal Counsel Memoranda
(Democrat - Vermont) 02/26/10
"The legal work of Yoo, Bybee and Steven Bradbury, the acting head of OLC who reaffirmed the CIA interrogation program, was flawed. It failed to cite significant case law and twisted the plain meaning of statutes. These legal memoranda were designed to achieve an end."

Sen. Leahy Statement at Nominations Hearing
(Democrat - Vermont) 02/24/10
"despite the fact that President Obama began sending judicial nominations to the Senate two months earlier than President Bush, after President Obama's 13 months in office the Senate is already three and one-half months behind where we were during the Bush administration. Meanwhile, judicial vacancies have skyrocketed to more than 100."

Sen. Boxer Praises President's Nomination of Goodwin Liu for U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; Liu Would Be Only Active Status Asian-American Federal Appeals Court Judge on the Ninth Circuit
(Democrat - California) 02/24/10
“I am pleased that the President has nominated respected Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a proven authority on constitutional law with a keen intellect."

Sen. Kerry: Undoing SCOTUS-decision damage
(Democrat - Massachusetts) 02/16/10
"in a stunning act of judicial activism — the kind of reaching-beyond-the-law action political conservatives have been complaining about since, well, Brown v. Board of Education — the majority issued a decision inflating the speech rights of large faceless corporations to the level of those of hardworking Americans."

Sen. Leahy at Nominations Hearing
(Democrat - Vermont) 02/10/10
"This President has from the outset worked with Senators from both parties to select outstanding, qualified judicial nominees. Five of these nominees come from states with a Democratic Senator and a Republican Senator. Each nominee has the support of both home state Senators. ... I, again, urge Senate Republicans to reconsider their strategy and allow prompt consideration of the other judicial nominees awaiting Senate consideration"

Sen. Lautenberg Floor Statement on Judicial Nominations
(Democrat - New Jersey) 02/09/10
"While I welcome a vote that will establish confidence in Judge Greenaway’s ability to serve our country, today’s vote comes 4 months after his nomination came to the floor of the U.S. Senate because of unnecessary and unreasonable delays....Republican obstructionism last year led to the lowest number of judicial confirmations in more than 50 years. Justice has been delayed while those who refused to let this vote take place had another agenda—purely to score political points."

Sen. Leahy: Citizens United Decision “Has Invited Foreign Influence Over Our Political Process”
(Democrat - Vermont) 02/09/10
"The decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was a 5 to 4, and it illustrates how the change in just one justice on the Supreme Court can have serious consequences for hardworking Americans and for our democracy."

Judiciary Committee Advances Four Nominations
(Democrat - Vermont) 02/04/10
"Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) expressed concern about the many nominations pending before the full Senate."