The United States has the burden to lead for peace. And not just peace - we need peace with justice, a much harder goal.

After 9/11, the President of the United States was a challenged leader. He faced difficult times. We lost 3,000 people. Some decisions had to be made. He decided that business as usual would not continue and the United States was going to have to take a leadership role against terrorism.

Of all appointments that the president is asked to make, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court deserves the highest level of scrutiny.

Namely, that our investigation was authorized by the attorney general of the United States, and that the Justice Department had the information that we had with respect to serious possible federal offenses,

The criminal justice system is accurately symbolized by a large sculpture that sits at the foot of the United States attorney's building: four metal circles that interlock. The wheels of justice, as it were, frozen in legal and social gridlock.

We need to give them [the Justice Department] as much power as we can without eroding fundamental liberties.