Tom Udall Quotes
They rushed to move it forward, uh, and then a lawsuit was filed and we spent many months litigating, rather than trying to come up with legislation and move forward on that front.
Udall, Tom. Interview. Nevada Test Site Oral History Project, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2004.
He was discussing “Stand Your Ground Laws” which were enacted to solve one problem, but then effected many other things negatively. The law, once passed, is the law regardless of whether it has adverse consequences that the legislators never anticipated. This is one of the reasons that drafting legislation is such a difficult skill.
Referring to civil rights suits during the Reagan administration:
The President had threatened to veto a budget bill if it contained a provision that would increase taxes for the wealthy. There were not enough votes to override the veto. The majority leader urged dropping the provision:
Thomas Stewart Udall is an American politician who served as a United States Senator for New Mexico from 2009 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. Representative for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district from 1999 to 2009 and was the Attorney General of New Mexico from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Udall family, he is the son of Stewart Udall, the nephew of Mo Udall, and the cousin of Mark Udall. He was the dean of New Mexico's congressional delegation. Udall was first elected in the 2008 Senate race. He did not seek a third term in 2020, making him the only Democratic senator to retire that cycle.
