Nomination of Michelle T. Friedland to Be US Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit

Floor Speech

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Madam President, 1 year ago I rose to speak in this Chamber. I rose with a heart heavy with mourning and yet filled with gratitude because 1 year ago cowards set off bombs at our beloved Boston Marathon, trying to terrorize our city, but Boston responded with courage and community.

Today I rise with a heart filled with the spirit of healing and restoration to commemorate the anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing and celebrate the strength and character of the people of Boston.

One year ago terror knocked on Boston's door. It was not just the momentary terror of smoke and sound but the terror of uncertainty and speculation, the terror of siege and lockdown. Such terrors can break a people's spirit. They seek to do no less. But Boston was fearless.

Our first responders, our protectors and investigators, our heroes, our citizen heroes, our families, our friends, and our neighbors--we did not waiver. In that moment when all the world had its eyes upon us, we responded with a cry of defiance, not of fear.

Scripture says: ``Be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.'' In the last year we have seen what bravery and strength and love can do.

Friends and family, classmates and teachers have come together to keep alive the memories of Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi, Martin Richards, and Sean Collier, and to celebrate their lives and to promise they will live on in our hearts.

Investigators and prosecutors have pursued justice, impartial and fair but with righteous conviction and an unwavering sense of purpose.

Healers and neighbors, friends and family have restored life and energy to those who thought it lost and in doing so have felt their own spirits lift.

Inventors and doctors have returned a ballroom dancer to the dance floor and helped children run and play, focused not on what they have lost but on what they can do next.

Families have rejoiced with graduations and birthdays, weddings and children, with the sweetest and most hopeful moments of life.

In the last year we have found that when we are united as one community, bravery and strength and love can heal the body and restore the spirit.

One hundred years after the original Patriots' Day of 1775, an orator celebrating the anniversary of the first battles of the Revolutionary War told the people of Massachusetts that ``our common liberty is consecrated by a common sorrow.'' From time to time, as a community and as a country we are reminded of this wisdom, through the awful grace of God. Our common tragedies and sufferings unite us as one people, and that unity brings with it strength and courage and ultimately renews our commitment to liberty.

Now, with the strength of One Boston still with us, we look ahead to justice that has yet to be served, to healing that remains to be done, to a future of achievements, of celebrations, and of memories.

May God bless those we have lost. May He inspire those who survived to carry forward. May He keep our community united in bravery and strength and love. And may He always watch over the people of Boston, of Massachusetts, and of the United States of America.

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