Chuck Grassley: “So we get appointments such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, totally qualified to be on the Court. I voted for her; Justice…”

“So we get appointments such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, totally qualified to be on the Court. I voted for her; Justice Breyer, totally qualified to be on the Court, I voted for him. We did not try to second-guess President Clinton. Clearly, Justice Ginsburg does not share Justice White's philosophy. Yet Senate Republicans overwhelmingly confirmed her, with only three ``nay'' votes. The fact is, the President picked people they thought would be good Justices. The bottom line is we should not be thinking of liberal, conservative, or moderate judges--men or women for that matter. We ought to think of who is qualified. If you are qualified for the job, you ought to get the vote of the Senate. Someone who has the right temperament and integrity on the job is also a requirement. But these liberals I voted for have had that as well. Judge Roberts recognized this problem, politicizing the Federal bench, and in particular the Supreme Court, when some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle attempted to pin him down on certain litmus test questions at his nomination hearings. Judge Roberts said: [I]t is a very serious threat to the independence and integrity of the court to politicize them. I think that is not a good development to regard the courts as simply an extension of the political process. That's not what they are.…”