Opening statement - Kennedy

Using MS Word to summarize Kennedy's opening statement:

Americans have shed blood, campaigned and marched. We need the ingenuity and innovation and commitment of every American.

Every citizen counts. We also are a government of the people in which citizens have a strong voice in the great issues that shape our lives.

We expect Supreme Court justices to uphold those rights and the rule of times in both war and peace. Judge Roberts, you are an intelligent, well-educated and serious man. The Senate was not intended to be a rubber stamp for a president's nominees to the Supreme Court. This hearing is John Roberts' job interview with the American people.

In particular, we need to know his views on civil rights, voting rights and the right to privacy, especially the removal of existing barriers to full and fair lives for women, minorities and the disabled.

Long-established rights to privacy are under heavy siege.