trouble ruling against a president who appointed you and against the executive branch in any case before you. you partly talked about independence but apply it specifically to a ruling against a president or the executive branch, generally. thank you, mr. chairman. to begin with, you re correct, no one is above the law in our constitutional system. federalist 69, hamilton, makes clear all the ways the executive bran branch as designed by the framers of the constitution was different from the monarchy. the branch is subject to the law. subject to the court system. that s an important part of federalist 69. it is an important part of the constitutional structure. in general, so, too, we as judges are separate from the congress. we are not supposed to be influenced by political pressure
legislation or a nomination to the courts or to the executive bran branch. reporter: every senate democrat in the new congress has signed a letter urging changes to the senate rules, and not surprising the republicans are opposed to giving up their power to hold up the democratic priorities an even some outgoing senate democrats warn that the long-term consequences should trump the short-term political gain of changing the filibuster. therefore to my fellow senators who have never served a day in the minority, i urge you to pause in your enthusiasm to change senate rules. reporter: now, here is the thing, that it take 2s/3 of the senate, and that is 67 senators the change the senate rules. democrats could get around that by appealing to the president of the senate, which happens to be vice president joe biden to allow a simple majority to change the rules. but a lot of the democratic senators are the ones who are supporting this, and that is the