Sheldon Whitehouse: “The courts are where the status quo may be discomforted and even upended if the law requires . . . The Supreme Court is where the comfortable should be afflicted.”

Between this and his criticism of John Roberts and “right-wing justices,” it’s easy to roll your eyes, but show the man a little sympathy. There are 12 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, and of course, they all have to give opening statements. We’ve already heard from Leahy, Feinstein, Feingold, Cardin . . . All the usual boilerplate’s already been taken, so Whitehouse had no choice but to revert to the extra-spicy version of DNC talking points.