Bill Bennett: “we are on the Agriculture bill, but the morning has been taken up with discussion of Judge Roberts. I think that is…”

“we are on the Agriculture bill, but the morning has been taken up with discussion of Judge Roberts. I think that is appropriate given the decision of the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy, to support Judge Roberts and to announce that here this morning. That was perhaps unexpected by some of the commentators and, therefore, deserved a little time. I will take the opportunity, having listened to the junior Senator from Massachusetts, to respond to some of the things he said, not with the understanding that it is going to change anything anywhere but for the satisfaction of getting a few things off my chest. The Senator complained bitterly, as he and others have done with respect to other nominees, that the memos given to the Solicitor General are not being made public. He did not tell us that every Solicitor General--regardless of party, regardless of administration-- who is currently living has agreed with Judge Roberts, with Miguel Estrada, with others who worked in the Office of the Solicitor General, that those memos should, in fact, not be made public. They are, in fact, covered by the attorney-client privilege. Some say, ``Well, the American people are the client, not the Solicitor General.'' The Solicitor General is the attorney for the American people and has a right to attorney-client privilege within his own staff, as any attorney has for material within that attorney's own office, as if they are representing a private client.…”