Jeff Bingaman: “My own view would be we clearly have in the Senate for well over a century now delegated the initial responsibility for…”

“My own view would be we clearly have in the Senate for well over a century now delegated the initial responsibility for reviewing judges to the members of the Judiciary Committee. I would suggest the President should be consulting with members of the Judiciary Committee, both Republicans and Democrats, and if he determines he can't get a single Democrat on the Judiciary Committee to support his nominee, that should be a signal to him he should find a nominee who could be supported by Democrats, as well as Republicans. It is true the Democrats are in the minority at this point. But a great many Members of this body are Democrats and a great many members of the Judiciary Committee are Democrats. If to a person they are opposed to the nominee after they learn of the qualifications and the positions taken by the nominee, I think that is a signal to the President he should find someone else. Clearly, that is not the course he has chosen to follow.”