stuart taylor in his thoughtful piece. the firefighters you see were told that there was going to be a test that would determine promotion. that it would determine eligibility for promotion. the tests were given at the time stated and the rules had been set forth. but the rules were changed and promotions did not occur because the sotomayor court in a decision concluded that too many nominees did not -- too many minorities did not pass the test. and no finding was made that the test was unfair. so we'll be looking at that and quite a number of other matters as we go forward. we'll be talking about the question of foreign law, the question of this nominee's commitment to the second amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. the constitution said the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed and we'll talk about that and some other matters. because once on the court, each justice has one vote. it only takes five votes to declare what the constitution says and that is an awesome power. and the judges must show restr

legal journalist stuart taylor was highly critical of the way it was handled calling it peculiar. even the obama justice department weighed in. it filed a brief and the supreme court argued that judge sotomayor's panel was wrong to simply dismiss the case. so, madam president, it's an admirable quality to be a zellist for your client, but judges are supposed to be passionate advocates for they have a fair application of the law, not their own preferences. in reviewing the richie case, i'm concerned that judge sotomayor may have lost sight of that. as we consider this nomination, i'll continue to examine her record to see if personal or political views have influenced her judgment. i yield the floor. >> madam president. >> the senator from alabama. >> madam president, i thank senator mcconnell for his thoughtful comments. he's a former member of the judiciary committee, a lawyer who studied these issues and cares about them deeply. i value your comments. i do think that as you know, senator mcconnell, while you're here that once a nominee achieves the supreme court they do have a l