Dick Durbin

I think the resolution that he and other colleagues bring before us is certainly one that should be considered seriously for those who are committed to human rights.

I asked her the following: Do you think the Supreme Court's most important decisions-- Brown, Miranda and Roe--are consistent with strict constructionism?

This was amazing legislation because it was so strongly bipartisan. Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, then Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, they came through and said, on a bipartisan basis, let us extend freedoms and opportunities to people in…

May I ask the Senator from New York--I think it is important in this debate that we take this general and theoretical analysis of judges and their impact on America and try to make it something closer to home so the average person…

I thank the Senator. I ask the Senator, is he aware of the fact that I was present for the questioning of Miguel Estrada? I came to the hearing room on several occasions and, unfortunately, because of the timing of the schedule, I was…

There you have it. I tried my best to move this debate away from one man, one nomination, to the state of the economy. Basically, what the Senator has said is that unless we can have this one nominee, we don't care about the economy; let…

These true deficits are at the expense of the Social Security trust fund. In the closing years of the Clinton administration, surpluses that we generated were paying off the debt of the Social Security trust fund, making it a stronger…

I think reality has caught up with the administration. Generally, Americans give the President high marks as a President. And the numbers have come down, but only slightly. His general overall rating is positive. I think a lot of that…

One last question. The chairman suggested it would be unprecedented to produce these documents. But is the chairman not aware of the fact that similar documents were produced when William Rehnquist was being nominated to the Chief Justice…

Suffolk County in Long Island banned the sale of ephedra products because the Suffolk County Department of Health Services determined that "dietary supplements containing ephedra alkaloid are too dangerous to be sold within the county of…

The District of Columbia is a city which is governed by a mayor, a city council, and 535 wannabe mayors in the Congress. It seems that every Member of the House or Senate who wanted to be a mayor at some time in their lives decided at some…

Was he evasive to you or did he try to in any way conceal his true background and true record? Was there ever an instance of that?

In the case of Richard Paez, a Hispanic nominee who waited over 4 years for a vote, was there ever a time when Richard Paez refused to answer questions you posed to him?

I ask this question in relation to Richard Paez, and I will not go to the question of the cloture vote necessary to bring him to the floor, but I ask the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee if it was fair to Richard Paez…

The question is coming. Is it not the right of Senators to raise questions on the floor about Miguel Estrada? Why is that unfair while the treatment of Enrique Moreno was fair? He did not even have a hearing. Miguel Estrada had a hearing…

The Senator suggested it was fair for two Republican Senators from Texas to block a man like Enrique Moreno from even having a hearing because that was their right.

I ask the Chair to address the Senator from Utah as to how it is any different to have Enrique Moreno, with a well-qualified rating from the American Bar Association, nominated to the Federal judiciary, refused a hearing before then…

Pursuing the same question, can the Senator ever recall a Hispanic nominee suggested by President Clinton, when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hispanic nominee for the Federal judiciary who received a well-qualified…

This isn't what I am referring to. These are written questions which were sent to him. I just read his answer. It was curious to me, I say to the Senator from Utah, when he was given an opportunity to say just that, he did not. He did not.

Four years. And there was never any question raised about his qualifications or answers to questions.

I ask the Senator one last question: Can he point to any question asked by any Senator that went beyond general law and asked Miguel Estrada how he would rule on a particular case?

Is it the Senator's position we should not ask a question of a nominee in any area of law that might come up in any case a judge would rule on?

Can the Senator point to any question asked of Miguel Estrada by either a Democratic or Republican Senator as to how he would rule in a particular case during the course of the confirmation hearing? Did any Senator violate the standard…

Does the Senator recall a speech he made to the Federalist Society? I will quote from his statement there: [M]any of President Clinton's nominees tend to have limited paper trails. Determining which of the President's nominees will become…

At this point, the vast majority of those serving of Hispanic origin are Democrats.