Bill Bennett: “most of the speakers who have discussed this subject have talked about Judge Roberts' qualification. There is no point…”

“most of the speakers who have discussed this subject have talked about Judge Roberts' qualification. There is no point in my referring to them or repeating them again. There is a point that I do wish to make with respect to the entire process, which I think needs to be emphasized and stressed. It is this: Nominations are not elections. Read the Constitution, and we see that it allows for elections. It provides for elections. It says there are places where elections are appropriate. The President is elected. The Vice President is elected. The Members of the Senate and House are elected. But members of the Cabinet are not; they are appointed by the President. And to allow the election process to have an influence, they have to be confirmed by the Senate. But they are not elections. The same thing is true very much with respect to the judicial branch. A nomination for the Supreme Court is not an election. The reason I make such stress of that is because there are many groups out there who think this is an election. There are big ads on television. They are organizing demonstrations. They are walking around with placards. That is what you do when you try to influence voters in an election. This is not an election. The Founding Fathers understood that it should not be an election. There are some who have made up their minds long in advance of any nomination as to what they are going to do.…”