Byron Dorgan: “although Congress has the responsibility to advise and consent on the confirmable posts of Cabinet Secretaries, I have…”

“although Congress has the responsibility to advise and consent on the confirmable posts of Cabinet Secretaries, I have historically cast my vote in a manner that provides wide latitude for a President to select his Cabinet team. I have voted for Cabinet nominees with whom I have very substantial and deep disagreements because I believe a President should be able to select a team of his choice to pursue his administration's goals. But there are those occasions where it is important for the Congress to express its independent judgment about the record and the qualifications of a Cabinet nominee. That is the case with the nominee the President has sent us for the post of Attorney General. I have met with Judge Gonzales on a number of occasions, and I think he is smart and capable and has served the President loyally for a long period of time. But I am very troubled by the results of the Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Gonzales. I believe there are serious questions about the role of Judge Gonzales in the development of guidelines defining 'torture' in the war on terror that should be unsettling to all Americans. Judge Gonzales was evasive in answering direct questions about these issues and refused to release all of the information that has been requested by the Judiciary Committee.”