MSNBC "Interview With Senator Richard Durbin" - Transcript

Interview

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MR. WATSON: Democratic Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois is a member of the Senate Judicary Committee. Senator Durbin, thank you so much for joining me.

SEN. DURBIN: Good to be with you, Carlos.

MR. WATSON: Senator Durbin, so what do you know about President Obama's historic decision-making process -- this obviously his first choice. He had lots of great candidates to choose from. What do you know about the process of decision-making here?

SEN. DURBIN: I talked to the president last week. He had a lot of good names to choose from. Sonia Sotomayor was a person that has an extraordinary background.

I take a look at this president, and I realize that he understands that if you're going to be the first, you have to be the best. And he's the first African-American president and faced a lot questions because of it.

Sonia Sotomayor would be the first Latina, Latin-Hispanic woman, on the Court. And, of course, she's going to be held to a tough standard, too. But she can meet it. I mean, this is a woman born in a housing project in the Bronx. Her dad died when she was 9. Her mom kept the family together. She excelled at school, in law school. She did well as as prosector and as a litigator. And then she was appointed to the federal bench by a Republican president, George Herbert Walker Bush, promoted on that bench by a Democratic president, Bill Clinton.

So she really has, I think, the kind of talent and resume that catches the attention of both political parties.

MR. WATSON: Senator Durbin, despite what Mitt Romney said, do you think there's a possibility that you actually may see, oddly enough, Republicans rally precisely because of Judge Sotomayor's both credibility, that she was appointed by the first Bush, and her historic stature? Do you there's a chance that Republicans in the Senate will rally to her cause?

SEN. DURBIN: I think that some -- I hope many Republicans will support her. They've seen her before -- when President Bush appointed her to the federal bench and they saw her as well when she was promoted by President Clinton.

I think they're going to take a look and understand this is a woman, a person of quality. They understand that her decisions are going to be reviewed carefully. Hard questions will be asked, as they should be. But I don't think there's going to be any delay tactic here. I think that this is a person that many people in the Senate, particularly on the Judiciary Committee, know well.

MR. WATSON: Senator Durbin, how will this nomination -- I mean, President Obama still has a lot on his plate as does the Congress from health care to cap-and-trade to even the torture issue, which is being investigated in some parts of Congress -- how will the Sotomayor nomination impact his agenda, impact the flow of those issues through the Congress?

SEN. DURBIN: You know, President Obama challenges Congress almost on a weekly basis to walk and chew gum. And for the longest time we weren't able to do those things in a coordinated fashion and got into a -- kind of a lazy mindset that we couldn't do serious things if there were too many of them.

But the president has said we have too many big challenges facing this country -- keeping it safe and national security, dealing with the health care issues, putting this economy back on track and people to work, resolving the energy issue, and now a Supreme Court vacancy. Of course, we can do it. We may have to work a little harder in Washington, but that's not too much to ask.

MR. WATSON: Senator Durbin, finally, as a lawyer yourself, and as someone who's been in the Senate for quite some time, you know that a number of issues that are on the radar today ultimately will be big issues if Sotomayor is confirmed. Can you talk about two or three of the issues that you think could arise over the next decade if Judge Sotomayor is ultimately confirmed to the Court?

SEN. DURBIN: Well, there -- the traditional issues that she will be asked about, of course, start with a woman's right to choose or the issue of abortion. They involve the rights of prisoners in jail, what to do with the detainees in Guantanamo, the rights of a president during wartime. I mean, these things are naturally going to be part of our conversation, and she will face questions on them.

But she's faced those questions before, and what she's basically said is, "I'm going to follow the Constitution and the law, but my life experience," having grown up as she did in New York -- much like Sandra Day O'Connor, who was a Supreme Court Justice who grew up on a ranch in Arizona -- is going to have some impact on these decisions. I think she's going to use common sense and the real world. And I think she's going to be a great Supreme Court justice.

MR. WATSON: Senator Durbin, finally, your colleague in the Senate, your colleague from Illinois, Senator Burris -- there's breaking news that the Senate Ethics Committee is going to hear some of those secret phone conversations between Governor Blagojevich's brother and Senator Burris. Any additional perspective that you can bring as to where you think this situation is going to end up?

SEN. DURBIN: This couldn't come as any surprise to Senator Burris or anybody in Illinois. I assume that all the conversations, all of the transcripts will ultimately become public, including my own conversation with Governor Blagojevich back months and months ago. I don't know what's in that conversation with Senator Burris. If it's something that he has to explain or defend, I'm sure he'll do it.

MR. WATSON: Senator Dick Durbin, number two in the U.S. Senate, thank you so much for joining us, sir. We appreciate it.

SEN. DURBIN: Good to be with you.

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