231 Quotes by Dick Durbin

If he issues rulings as Sandra Day O'Connor did, it will be no issue at all. But if he goes to the court and comes forward with rulings such as we've seen from Justices Scalia and Thomas time and again, it will be an issue.

We see it in attempts on Capitol Hill to impose gag rules on rules on doctors on what they can say to their patients about family planning. And we certainly see it now with an effort by the government to tap our phones; invade our medical records, credit information, library records and the most sensitive personal information in the name of national security.

I don't see any retreat when it comes to our basic values, ... We feel that what we stand for is still very important to the future of this country. How we present it and how we describe it, maybe we need to look at more carefully. But I didn't hear anybody sounding retreat as I called around to our caucus. We want to make certain that we pick and choose our battles selectively and that we are unified when we do have to take a stand.

I asked the attorney general to please ask our special counsel in this case to take a look at the precedent of the Paris Hilton case and see if he can perhaps protect our records as much as we want to protect that poor young lady's telephone records,

As a government lawyer, Samuel Alito wrote that he personally believe very strongly the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion.

How soon will these Iraqi battalions be prepared to defend their own nation so America can come home?

I have thought about this issue of abortion time and again. It is not an easy issue for most people.I came to believe over the years that a woman should be able to make this agonizing decision with her doctor and her family and her conscience, and that we should be very careful that we don't make that decision a crime except in the most extreme circumstances.

There is also the issue of personal privacy when it comes the executive power. Throughout our nation's history, whether it was habeas corpus during the Civil War, Alien and Sedition Acts in World War I, or Japanese internment camps in World War II, presidents have gone too far.

The illegal trafficking in prescription medications constitutes a particularly troublesome aspect of the substance abuse problem in America.