Patrick Leahy Quotations

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

We have reached the point that if you have a medical record, credit card or computer, you have a privacy problem,

Let's let the Senate run this and not the gun lobbies run this Senate chamber.

Many would say that amount is negligible. Where does the rest of it go?

Frankly, had Chief Justice Roberts been rammed through on an accelerated schedule that some in the White House wanted, he would not have gotten anywhere near the number of votes he got.

We've given billions of dollars to the Department of Homeland Security. I voted for those billions of dollars as a member of the Appropriations Committee. We have given as many tools as they've asked for. What in heaven's name was happening?

has gone way beyond anything that the United States said it would tolerate.

I take him at his word that he will steer the court to serve as an appropriate check on potential abuses of presidential power.

While we have made some progress, much is left to be done.

The President and Vice-President have been consistent alright-consistently wrong. There is no value in that.

We are planning on having Thanksgiving in Washington,

This strikes me as wrong-headed, ... Until differences are resolved (between the two industries), certainly no legislation will pass this year.

This was the memo that basically justified the United States be involved in torture,

There's no way we can ask for a treaty that has one standard for the United States and another for the rest of the world.

I want an end to this thing. But where are we? Do we know what the rules are going to be?

a flexible plan that includes pulling our troops back from the densely populated areas where they are suffering the worst casualties and to bring them home.

Despite my misgivings, I have acquiesced in some of the administration's proposals because it is important to preserve national unity in this time of crisis and to move the legislative process forward,

The bottom line is with that enormous power comes enormous responsibility and frankly I have not seen anything in the Rich pardon suggesting to me the responsibility was fully carried out,

This is the way legislation used to be done when I first came here. There were many good things in this conference report, but not enough. Now we have six months to get it right.

They have squandered the surpluses ... the public's trust in corporate accountability and in the markets, and the opportunities to use the surpluses to protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security and homeland defense,

There's a real potential of criminal conduct here, there will certainly be grand juries looking at this,

Data banks offer powerful tools for security screening, but they also raise privacy dangers.

I regret that instead of accepting our many previous invitations to work with the Senate and increase the level of consultation and cooperation to help fill judicial vacancies, the White House repeatedly has chosen to continue down its path of trying to politicize the process,

he said. ''But I really didn't come here to win a popularity contest. I came here to do what I thought was right.

gave the wrong impression to the rest of the world.

Most Americans want a sense of privacy. A lot of us don't realize how much of our privacy we're exposing by the internet.

She [Justice sandra Day O'Connor] rejected the [George] Bush administration's claim that it could indefinitely detain a United States citizen. She upheld the fundamental principle of judicial review over the exercise of government power.

She [Justice sandra Day O'Connor] wrote - and this is one we should all remember - she wrote that even war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens. She held that even this president is not above the law.

Of course no president, Democratic or Republican - no president - is above the law, as neither are you, nor I, nor anyone.

Her [Jurdge Sandra Day O'Connor] judgment has also been critical in protecting our environmental rights. She joined in 5-4 majorities affirming reproductive freedom and religious freedom and the Voting Rights Act.

As the elected representatives of the American people, all the people, nearly 300 million people, that we in the Senate are charged with the responsibility to examine whether to entrust their precious rights and liberties to [Supreme Court] nominee.

The appointment of the next Supreme Court justice must be made in the people's interest and in the nation's interest, not in the interest of any partisan faction.

This is a time when the protections of Americans' liberties are directly at risk, as are the checks and balances that have served to constrain abuses of power for more than 200 years. The Supreme Court is relied upon by all of to us protect our fundamental rights.

The American people deserve a Supreme Court justice who can demonstrate that he or she will not be beholden to the president, but only to the law.

The federal judiciary is unlike the other branches of government. And once confirmed, a federal judge serves for life. And there's no court above the Supreme Court.

Justice [Sandra Day] O'Connor has been a guardian of the protections the Constitution provides the American people. She's come to provide balance and a check on government intrusion into our personal privacy and freedoms.

I intend to have protections for the L.G.B.T. community in there. I'm not going to make choices between that community and the non-L.G.B.T. community.

In my view it is time to pass a good bill, a fair bill, a comprehensive bill ... Too many have been waiting too long for fairness.

The court that serves America should reflect America.

I'm addicted to the Internet. I admit it. It has transformed the way I work as a senator, communicate with my children, and keep tabs on news and cultural developments.... The Internet is a more direct communications link between legislators and their constituents....I constantly work at fusing my Senate work into my office home page to make it as useful, timely, and user-friendly as possible for Vermonters and others who may visit.....I look at my Web site, as my 24-hour virtual office, where visitors can send me an e-mail or search for the information they need anytime, day or night.

[Sandra Day O'Connor] is a justice whose graciousness and sense of duty fuels her continued service, even agreeing to serve more than six months after her retirement date.

Judiciary is where my passion is.

I regret that some on the extreme right have been so critical of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and have adamantly opposed the naming of a successor who shares her judicial philosophy and qualities. And their criticism actually reflects poorly upon them.

The FBI wanted us to introduce the 1994 Digital Telephony bill today and I said absolutely not. They have to understand they have a Vermonter as the Chairman Of the Technology and Law committee and that we Vermonters respect our privacy.

For the church to say that abortion is not acceptable for a Catholic is fine. To say directly or indirectly that on something that is a church teaching that you must also vote according to that - that's not acceptable in a country based on the First Amendment.

We've won wars before and we've certainly retained our rights as Americans.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor serves as a model Supreme Court justice, widely recognized as a jurist with practical values, a sense of the consequences of the legal decisions being made by the Supreme Court.

Press releases tell us when federal agencies do something right, but the Freedom of Information Act lets us know when they do not.

At first glance, there's a lot of sex on the Internet. Or not at first glance: nobody can find anything on the Internet at first glance.

The part that frightens the hell out of me is the goverment deciding where technology goes.

I look forward to the time when the membership of the Supreme Court's more reflective of the country it serves.

I'd like something that faces reality. We have 12 million people in this country that are undocumented - that's a reality. It's not going to be like they're all going to leave. One of the reasons I'm holding this hearing in the morning is to hear from somebody who actually understands what's involved here - Janet Napolitano - and I hope that from what she says and what we hear from her, we can start building some consensus.

Relations between the United States and other countries, and our role as a global leader, are advanced by our willingness to help other countries in need. Foreign aid is essential to protecting U.S. interests around the world, and it is also a moral responsibility of the wealthiest, most powerful nation.

This is a commonsense solution that gives the Senate more time to craft a consensus bill that will promote our security while preserving our freedom.