PATRICK LEAHY

I'm an old trial lawyer.

Our alliances and our credibility are crucial elements of our working capital in advancing America's interests in the world, and they have been eroded over the last four years.

We need to consider nominations as thoroughly and carefully as the American people deserve. No one is entitled to a free pass to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

A victim is a victim is a victim. We should stop setting up standards that say we will have one standard of law enforcement for one group of victims but not for another.

I'm a gun owner.

There have been 111 Justices in the Supreme Court of the United States. Only three have been women. If she is confirmed, Solicitor General Kagan will bring the Supreme Court to an historical high-water mark, with three women concurrently serving as Justices.

The American public is sick and tired of being lied to.

The rights of copyright holders need to be protected, but some draconian remedies that have been suggested would create more problems than they would solve.

Judiciary is where my passion is.

Why do the President and Vice-President constantly change the subject when asked to explain why things are going so badly in Iraq? The answer is simple. They have been consistently wrong about Iraq, and the results speak for themselves.

Stealing is stealing. I don't care if it's on the Internet or you're breaking into a warehouse somewhere - it's theft.

You get fifteen democrats in a room, and you get twenty opinions.

A lot of people in my state of Vermont are gun owners.

This is beginning to sound more like a canonization hearing than a confirmation hearing.

The Department of Justice should never be reduced to a political arm of the White House.

No president gets all his judges.

Even more shocking is a proposal to create a new biodefense research agency that would be completely exempt from FOIA ...We can all agree that the nation must prepare, but it should not do so in abject secrecy

The court that serves America should reflect America.

This administration seems intent on accumulating unchecked power.

The Supreme Court is our ultimate check and balance.

Thank God we have a press that tells us what you guys are doing.

Does the Constitution permit the execution of an innocent person?

If you’re going to remove a President from office and overturn a national election, you had better be sure that it’s ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.’

If you’re going to have the death penalty, you had better be sure that you have the right man.

It is ingrained into our national life that the rule of law makes us free.