Topic: Closing Remarks
Senator: Graham
Date: SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
Contents
GRAHAM: (OFF-MIKE)
SPECTER: Senator Graham, you are recognized.
GRAHAM: Yes, Mr. Chairman, just for a couple of minutes.
I'm trying to compile questions from the past where the answers were very similar to the answers of Judge Roberts about, "I can't comment, I can't give you -- I can't answer your question because it may compromise my integrity to judge in the future." And I would ask permission of the committee to get a chance to organize this because there are so many volumes.
And what I would like to be able to demonstrate to the committee is that the pattern that he has displayed in terms of saying, "I can't give you an answer because it may disqualify me" is not unique to the Senate and very similar to past nominations. And we've got some examples of that.
But if I may, and I know we've been here and Lord knows this guy's been through the wringer, I just want to comment a little bit an unhealthy area I think we find ourselves in in the last hour.
Most of us are lawyers, and I would hate to be judged by the people I've represented in the past totally.
I've represented some people that are not very nice.
(LAUGHTER)
But I gave them my all.
I've represented people on Air Force bases that were so unpopular, Judge Roberts, that no one would eat with me, because it was my job as the area defense counsel to represent that person.
GRAHAM: Your heart -- nobody can question your intellect, because it would be a question of their intellect to question yours...
(LAUGHTER)
... so we're down to the heart. And is it all coming down to that?
Well, there are all kind of hearts. There are bleeding hearts and there are hard hearts. And if I wanted to judge Justice Ginsburg on her heart, I might take a hard-hearted view of her and say she's a bleeding heart. She represents the ACLU. She wants the age of consent to be 12. She believes there's a constitutional right to prostitution. What kind of heart is that?
Well, she has a different value system than I do. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have a good heart.
And I want this committee to understand that if we go down this road of putting people's hearts in play, and the only way you can have a good heart is, "Adopt my value system," we're doing a great disservice to the judiciary.
Thank you.
SPECTER: Thank you very much, Senator Graham.
We're now going to go into executive session, under Senate Rule 26, to review the FBI report -- which is standard for all the judicial nominees: Supreme Court or Court of Appeals or district court -- and to consider any other investigative issue that members of the committee may have.
During Senator Biden's tenure as chairman, the practice was initiated of conducting routine closed sessions with each nominee for the Supreme Court, to ask the nominee on the record, under oath, about all investigative charges against the person, if there were any.
SPECTER: These hearings are routinely conducted for every Supreme Court nominee, even where there are no investigative issues to be resolved.
In so doing, those outside the committee cannot infer that the committee has received adverse, confidential information about a nominee.
The committee and Judge Roberts will now proceed to Dirksen 226, which is right down the hall.
Senator Leahy?
LEAHY: I understand that, also following our practice, the Republican counsel and the Democratic counsel, who normally work together on such issues, will brief the committee.
SPECTER: Senator Leahy, that is correct.
LEAHY: Thank you.
SPECTER: We expect to return to hear our first outside witness, the American Bar Association, just as soon as we conclude this. We want to move ahead as promptly as we can. So those witnesses should be available.
We will now adjourn to 226 in this building.
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