Thursday, October 27, 2005
Sen. Hatch: Democratic Filibuster? Bring It On!
When Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, met with Harriet Miers on Oct. 4th, he said he intended to support her nomination, and now says he still would, had she remained a candidate.
He reminded Fox News viewers today that Miers was rated as one of America's top 100 lawyers, and then asked "if any of her critics were of the other 99," then answered his own question by stating "I can tell you right now they aren't."
"She's a person of great ability, great integrity, and of course great capacity, but she's made this decision, and we'll have to accept it," he said.
Fox's Martha McCallum then asked Hatch if the president needs to "make a conservative choice to get the base behind him in these difficult times?"
Hatch replied, "I do think he wants to appoint conservatives, and that's what he's going to do. The Left is already saying, 'The Right has won here, and you must now appoint a moderate,' but keep in mind that 22 of them wouldn't even vote for (Chief Justice) Roberts, who most people are saying is one of the greatest nominations in history, so you can imagine this has become a very partisan ordeal.
"I think the president ought to pick the best conservative he possibly can, and we go on from there - and I'll be there to help."
On the question of a filibuster of possible conservative nominees like Michael Luttig or Sam Alito, Hatch said, "These are people who have great dimension and great caliber in the law - Michael Luttig is the perfect illustration - but if they want a filibuster, we're gonna have to take them on."
"There's really never been a leader-led partisan filibuster in the history of our country with regard to Supreme Court nominees," Hatch said, "or any other member of the judiciary, and I think we're just gonna have to take them on."
"We're not going to put up with that," he added emphatically.
When Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, met with Harriet Miers on Oct. 4th, he said he intended to support her nomination, and now says he still would, had she remained a candidate.
He reminded Fox News viewers today that Miers was rated as one of America's top 100 lawyers, and then asked "if any of her critics were of the other 99," then answered his own question by stating "I can tell you right now they aren't."
"She's a person of great ability, great integrity, and of course great capacity, but she's made this decision, and we'll have to accept it," he said.
Fox's Martha McCallum then asked Hatch if the president needs to "make a conservative choice to get the base behind him in these difficult times?"
Hatch replied, "I do think he wants to appoint conservatives, and that's what he's going to do. The Left is already saying, 'The Right has won here, and you must now appoint a moderate,' but keep in mind that 22 of them wouldn't even vote for (Chief Justice) Roberts, who most people are saying is one of the greatest nominations in history, so you can imagine this has become a very partisan ordeal.
"I think the president ought to pick the best conservative he possibly can, and we go on from there - and I'll be there to help."
On the question of a filibuster of possible conservative nominees like Michael Luttig or Sam Alito, Hatch said, "These are people who have great dimension and great caliber in the law - Michael Luttig is the perfect illustration - but if they want a filibuster, we're gonna have to take them on."
"There's really never been a leader-led partisan filibuster in the history of our country with regard to Supreme Court nominees," Hatch said, "or any other member of the judiciary, and I think we're just gonna have to take them on."
"We're not going to put up with that," he added emphatically.
