Rick Allen: “There is no justifiable explanation. Miguel Estrada is a person of very calm demeanor. He is very mild mannered and soft…”

“There is no justifiable explanation. Miguel Estrada is a person of very calm demeanor. He is very mild mannered and soft spoken. He is one who, throughout the entire nomination process, was willing to subject himself to whatever written interrogatories submitted to him by Senators. He was willing to and did meet one on one with Senators. So that characterization is not accurate. Do you know what that characterization is? It is pure politics. It doesn't matter what the truth is because they have not justified it. What is unfortunate about statements such as that is that it is the politics of personal destruction. We should rise above that. I say to the Senator that my very first speech on the Senate floor was about judges. I said that I care about treating people as individuals rather than partisans. I spoke about Roger Gregory. President Clinton had appointed him as an recess appointment. This had many Republicans, understandably, infuriated. I examined and talked to Roger Gregory to determine his judicial philosophy. I studied his records of accomplishment, considered his temperament, and all of the attributes judges who are appointed for life should have. You have to be sure you are not going to end up with some judge who is a radical one way or the other, an activist, but rather one who interprets the law and applies the facts of the case, rather than inventing or creating laws.”