Well, you said "he should never have been convicted" and then went on to say "or if convicted, he never should have been sentenced to death because sexual sadism is clearly a mitigating factor." Can you cite any authority in which sexual…

I don't think this is a matter that is going to lightly go away, Judge.

I know the Civil--you understand that?

You have repeatedly given speeches proclaiming the Civil Rights Division is back open for business or that the voting booth is once again being protected.

I believe strongly in that. But I was--I guess I could be criticized for being unaware that perhaps they were making loans to some people who could not afford them.

You have been a critic of politicizing the Department, and I think you should take care to make sure that you do not.

I am aware, having been familiar with the Department of Justice for the last 20 years, that the Department of Justice has had more emphasis on trying to block efforts to remove from the roll dead and duplicate names, it seems to me, than…

We do not want to have another election with 25 percent of our military folks not able to vote.

I do not think it is fair to say the previous administration shut down civil rights enforcement, and I reject that.

But there still remain concerns about how that case was handled, and I do not think they are going to be resolved unless the people actually involved in it are allowed to testify or to give evidence.

Yet in the 15 months since the Inauguration, the Voting Rights Section, according to information I have, has brought only four cases in that time period and dismissed another.

I like your enthusiasm, I like your experience, and I like the idea that I think I hear you say, that you worked closely with your prosecutors and are involved in the cases yourself.

When we dealt with the hate crimes legislation, I think the FBI statistics showed actually a slight decline in hate crime cases.

I would just say how proud I am of Birmingham for its principled and sincere effort to confront its past where racial discrimination was far too prevalent.

I would hope and pray that the amount of hate crimes is down and not up.

Will you take action to ensure that communities who have large numbers of people on the rolls that should not be there remove those from the rolls?

I would say that Judge Wilkins' leadership in establishing the sentencing guidelines was probably the greatest change in the entire criminal justice system since the founding of the Republic.

the rule of law is--you interpret the statutes and Constitution as written

You've been clear that you felt that quotas are unconstitutional.

Professor Liu, your article I quoted earlier, 'Rethinking Constitutional Welfare Rights', is a troubling document to me.

there's a danger of court take-over of the legislative process.

Is that a precise command that cannot be abridged by unelected judges?

I would note that this nominee, Professor Liu, was set for a hearing in 28 days, when the average Court of Appeals nominee for the Obama administration so far was 48 days.

I think the only disagreement I had with Adarand was its extension of the principles of the Crowson case.

It's good to have all of you here. The process is more rigorous, as you know, than just the hearing we have today.