Opinion: Weekly remarks: Sessions on D-Day, Sotomayor; Obama on healthcare

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This weekend, President Obama is in Europe for the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. He’ll spend tonight in Paris, where his wife and children will stay behind on vacation. But he somehow left his weekly remarks behind, addressing what he sees as a broken national healthcare system and the need for drastic legislative reform asap.

This week’s Republican remarks are by Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and are broken into two parts: One, a tribute to the troops who stormed those beaches in France that cloudy day so long ago, and, second, an explanation of how the GOP will approach the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor to join the Supreme Court.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Hello, I’m Jeff Sessions, Senator from the state of Alabama and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Before I talk about the federal courts, I want to make note that in the early hours of the morning, sixty-five years ago today, a generation’s worth of brave Americans sailed across the troubled waters of the English Channel to an unknown fate on the beaches of Normandy.

They came from all walks of American life—from big northern cities to small southern towns—united behind a devotion to their country and a belief that democracy and freedom should not perish from the earth.

With a keen awareness of the dangers that lay ahead, they stormed the coast of Normandy with a force and fury that would forever change the human course of history. Too few of those heroes that set out across those stormy waters on June 6, 1944 are with us today.

But we take a moment now to honor their great sacrifice, to thank all those who’ve served our country, and to keep alive the memories of lost loved ones.

The Greatest Generation bestowed on us the gifts of a continued liberty and democratic government, each based on the exceptional American commitment to the rule of law.

* * *

This week I met with Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee to the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Sotomayor has a rich and engaging personality, a marvelous personal story. She also has a strong resume—the sort of education and legal background we should look for in a nominee.

She spent time in private practice, served as a federal prosecutor and now sits as an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

As I told Judge Sotomayor during our meeting, I and my Republican colleagues in the Senate are firmly committed to conducting a fair and respectful process.

Too often in the past, confirmation hearings have devolved into political theater, short on substance and long on distortions of character and record.

I am convinced that the Senate can do better. When the American people look back on these hearings, I’m hopeful they will remember them as the most substantive, the most thorough and the most thoughtful in memory—and focused on the issues that really matter.

The fact is, the Senate confirmation hearings are too important to squander. This is because only five justices are needed to declare the meaning of our Constitution and laws. Indeed, by redefining the meaning of our Constitution, judges have the power to impose their will on the people.

And, unlike Congress or the President, who are accountable to the voters at the....

...ballot box, judges are granted lifetime tenure to exercise their power. With that in mind, we in the Senate have an obligation to act on behalf of the American people to carefully scrutinize the nominee’s records before confirmation.

We will examine the nominee’s previous judicial records. We will study her academic writings and speeches. We will ask tough, probing questions. And, in every instance, we will give the nominee a fair opportunity to provide full and complete answers.

One issue that merits close examination during this process is the direction of the American legal system. Although we sometimes take our heritage of neutral and independent judiciary for granted, the truth is, this great tradition is under attack. And the American people are rightly concerned.

For example, I am troubled by President Obama’s use of the ‘empathy standard’ when selecting federal judges. With this view—that a judge should use his or her personal feelings about a particular group or issues to decide a case—it stands in stark contrast to the impartiality that we expect in the American courtroom.

If a judge is allowed to let his or her feelings for one party in the case sway his decision, hasn’t that judge then demonstrated a bias against the other party?

And, if a judge is allowed to inject his or her personal views into the interpretation of the law, does he not then have a license to rewrite the laws to fit his own preferences?

I fear that this ‘empathy standard’ is another step down the path to a cynical, relativistic results-oriented world:

Where words and laws have no fixed meaning; Where unelected judges set policy; And where Constitutional limits on government power are ignored when they are inconvenient to the powerful.

This standard is deeply troubling because it is so contradictory to our country’s long heritage of a faithful and impartial adherence to the rule of law.

Impartiality is a cornerstone of the American legal system. The rule of law is a hallmark of an orderly society. Together, they form the basis for the moral authority of law. That moral authority is the reason that Americans everyday respect and accept the rulings of courts, even when they strongly disagree.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, I have traveled to Iraq, and Pakistan and Afghanistan numerous times.

What the people of those countries want so desperately and need more than anything is the rule of law: a guarantee that contracts will be fairly enforced, that rights will not be infringed and that grievances will be peacefully addressed. Our legal system is the bedrock of our liberty and prosperity. It is unique in all the world.

We must do all we can to protect it.

I hope that the American people will engage in this nomination process and follow it closely. They should learn about the issues, and listen to both sides of the argument. And, at the end of the day, ask: If I must one day go to court, what kind of judge do I want to hear my case?

‘Do I want a judge that allows his or her social, political, or religious views to impact the outcome?

‘Or, do I want a judge that objectively applies the law to the facts, and fairly rules on the merits?’

That is the central question around which this entire nomination process will revolve. Thank you. And God Bless America. ###

Over the past few days, I’ve been traveling through the Middle East and Europe working to renew our alliances, enhance our common security and propose a new partnership between the United States and the Muslim world.

But even as I’m abroad, I’m firmly focused on the other pressing challenges we face – including the urgent need to reform our health care system. Even as we speak, Congress is preparing to introduce and debate health reform legislation that is the product of many months of effort and deliberation.

And if you’re like any of the Americans I’ve met across this country who know all too well that the soaring costs of health care make our current course unsustainable, I imagine you’ll be watching their progress closely.

I’m talking about the families I’ve met whose spiraling premiums and out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy or forcing them to go without the check-ups or prescriptions they need. Business owners who fear they’ll be forced to choose between keeping their doors open or covering their workers. Americans who rightly worry that the ballooning costs of Medicare and Medicaid could lead to fiscal catastrophe down the road.

Simply put, the status quo is broken. We cannot continue this way. If we do nothing, everyone’s health care will be put in jeopardy. Within a decade, we’ll spend one dollar out of every five we earn on health care – and we’ll keep getting less for our money.

That’s why fixing what’s wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve – it’s a necessity we cannot postpone any longer. The growing consensus around that reality has led an unprecedented coalition to come together for change. Unlike past attempts at reforming our health care system, everyone is at the table – patient’s advocates and health insurers; business and labor; Democrats and Republicans alike.

A few weeks ago, some of these improbable allies committed to cut national health care spending by two trillion dollars over the next decade. What makes this so remarkable is that it probably wouldn’t have happened just a few short years ago. But today, at this historic juncture, even old adversaries are united around the same goal: quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Now, I know that when you bring together disparate groups with differing views, there will be lively debate. And that’s a debate I welcome. But what we can’t welcome is reform that just invests more money in the status quo – reform that throws good money after bad habits.

We must attack the root causes of skyrocketing health care costs. Some of these costs are the result of unwarranted profiteering that has no place in our health care system, and in too many communities, folks are paying higher costs without receiving better care in return.

And yet we know, for example, that there are places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and other institutions that offer some of the highest quality of care in the nation at some of the lowest costs in the nation. We should learn from their successes and promote the best practices, not the most expensive ones. That’s how we’ll achieve reform that fixes what doesn’t work, and builds on what does.

This week, I conveyed to Congress my belief that any health care reform must be built around fundamental reforms that lower costs, improve quality and coverage, and also protect consumer choice. That means if you like the plan you have, you can keep it. If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too. The only change you’ll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold.

I also made it very clear to Congress that we must develop a plan that doesn’t add to our budget deficit. My budget included an historic down payment on reform, and we’ll work with Congress to fully cover the costs through rigorous spending reductions and appropriate additional revenues. We’ll eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in our health care system, but we’ll also take on key causes of rising costs – saving billions while providing better care to the American people.

All across America, our families are making hard choices when it comes to health care. Now, it’s time for Washington to make the right ones. It’s time to deliver. And I am absolutely convinced that if we keep working together and living up to our mutual responsibilities; if we place the American people’s interests above the special interests; we will seize this historic opportunity to finally fix what ails our broken health care system, and strengthen our economy and our country now and for decades to come. ###

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Top photo: Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944. Credit: Chief Photographers Mate Robert F. Sargent