As the court noted today, the authority to detain enemy combatants like Jose Padilla plays an important role in protecting American citizens from the very kind of savage attack that took place almost four years ago to the day,

Some in this country mistakenly believed it could not happen here, ... Today we have chilling evidence that it is possible.

We respect the role of the Senate. We respect the authority of the Senate to look at the qualifications of Judge Roberts, and at the end of the day I'm optimistic that if given a fair hearing and a fair opportunity, that he will be confirmed.

I'm, you know, having begun my public service in state government. I very much respect the authority of states to make the decisions to provide for its citizen - the safety and welfare of its citizens.

You do the best you can, looking at precedent, in trying to anticipate where the Supreme Court is going to draw the balance between the protection of civil liberties and protecting the national security, and in some cases, we guessed wrong.

Had these four defendants succeeded in their alleged plots, their attacks would have taken an untold number of Americans.