Bill Bennett: “we have compared numbers around here, particularly the number of 168 to 4 over and over again. I make it clear that…”

“we have compared numbers around here, particularly the number of 168 to 4 over and over again. I make it clear that these two numbers are not in the same ballpark; that is, this is not 168 who have been approved and 4 who have been disapproved. There has been no vote disapproving the 4. Rather, it is 168 who have received a vote in the tradition and the precedent set and maintained for 214 years. The Constitution was ratified in 1789, and from that time forward there has never been an instance where a judge reported out of the Judiciary Committee, or whatever committees preceded the Judiciary Committee in the existence of the Senate, never been a time when a judge whose name has come to the floor has been denied a vote until this year. If you take apples and apples, if you take the number of those reported to the floor and voted on until this year, the number was 2,372-0 for 214 years. Whether it was under control of the Democrats or the Republicans, this body never denied a reported nominee a vote. Some of those who got votes got defeated, but no one who was reported was denied a vote until this year. We talk about the law. We talk about the Constitution. One of the parts of the law as I understand it becomes established is the question of precedent, 214 years of precedent, 2,372 cases of precedent upset in this Congress by the Democratic leadership. A lot of people have called a lot of people names during this debate. I don't want to do that.…”