If this is not an ego trip between titanic Senate egos as to who is going to prevail, I ask the Senator from New York, what is the agenda here? Why would the Republicans in the new majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee change the…

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…

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…

Today marks the 166th birthday of the city of Chicago, and it would have been the 96th birthday of a great Chicago legend, Eleanor ``Sis'' Daley. I would like to talk about each briefly. On March 4, 1837, Chicago was incorporated as a city…

Yes. I am aware of it. It is sadly troubling, because what the President did in making that statement is to mischaracterize what happened. The Senator may recall, as I do, that Senator Byrd came before this body early on and said to us we…

I listened to what he said about Miguel Estrada. I find it difficult to quarrel with any of the statements he said about the man's quality. I met him personally. There is no doubt he has an inspiring life story, having come to the United…

In this May 10, 1988, letter from Thomas Boyd to Joe Biden, then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee: As Assistant Attorney General John Bolton noted in an August 24, 1987, letter to you, many of the documents provided the…

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…

Certainly the precedent exists. The statement made on the floor by Senator Hatch and others that this has never been done or only been leaked--he used that term this morning--is not a fact. I concede the point made by my colleague that…

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…

I had not heard those numbers before, but I think I can understand why the American people reached that conclusion. Because the President promised the age-old Republican response: If you just cut taxes on the wealthiest people in America…

I believe it is unprecedented. We are asking for the writings of Mr. Estrada so we may know who he is. I don't think that is unreasonable. There are three conceivable outcomes of the nomination. One is that there be a cloture vote called…

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…

If I can finish, and then I will be glad to yield for another question. In the Bork situation, they said: We wish to cooperate to the fullest extent possible. We have decided to take the exceptional step of providing the committee with…

Have you said the memoranda we are seeking in order to understand the jurisprudential philosophy of this nominee has not been produced except in those instances where it has been leaked or other instances where we have questions related to…

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…

Let me suggest you look at the questions asked of him by Senator Kennedy, written questions after the nominee appeared, that went to specific decided cases and asked for his response or reasoning. Time after time he came back and said…

After I finish. When the Clinton nominees came before the Judiciary Committee under the control of the Republicans, they were peppered with questions. Some of those questions I think went way beyond the realm of reasonable inquiry. I can…

In response to my colleague, I believe this is a good-faith question and it is one that deserves an honest reply. Do I believe there are some internal memoranda and writings generated within the Department of Justice that should not be…

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…

And for specific reason. I thank him for coming to the floor, even though we disagree on this issue. This deliberative body doesn't deliberate much. There is not much debate on the floor of the Senate and that is sad. I thank him for…

I am not only aware of it, I attended many of those hearings, as I believe the Senator from Nevada did as well. And Senator Byrd took it very seriously. He brought in the experts when it came to law enforcement, fire protection, and…

I have followed this debate on a daily basis. If I am not mistaken, the Senator from Utah, Mr. Bennett, came to the floor with a positive and constructive suggestion. He said that this nominee, Miguel Estrada, should produce the written…

I ask the Senator minority leader, is it not our constitutional responsibility to establish a standard and process to apply to all judicial nominees so that there is full disclosure from them as to who they are, what they believe, their…

This debate over Miguel Estrada should not be about the person. I have met him. I sat down in my office with him. He has a very impressive life story to tell having come to the United States as an immigrant when he was about 17 years old…