Pete Domenici: “let me say what a privilege it is today to speak once again to the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice and to the…”

“let me say what a privilege it is today to speak once again to the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice and to the advice and consent function of the Senate. I came here in 1972, so there have been a lot of men and women nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States. In my time here, I have voted to confirm them all. I based my vote, first, on the fact that the President of the United States recommended them and second, on whether they were qualified. I determined whether they were qualified based upon outside evaluations and personal observations of those who knew, trained and taught that particular nominee. For example, I found Justices Ginsburg and Breyer, who were confirmed 96-to-3 and 87-to-9, to be qualified. In my opinion, neither of those judges, based upon the way the Senate is doing things these days, would have come close to getting those kinds of votes. As a matter of fact, for those who threaten filibuster, I believe there is a serious question. If filibusters would have been the rule of the day, at least one of those nominees might very well have been filibustered, and the filibuster might have been successful. But that wasn't the way things were done. Qualification was the question upon which we based our decisions; that has changed. Rancor has taken the place of reason. Partisanship has taken the place of responsibility and fairness.…”