Chuck Schumer: “I, for one, have no litmus test at all. As I mentioned, I am willing to see balance on the Court. That means some judges…”

“I, for one, have no litmus test at all. As I mentioned, I am willing to see balance on the Court. That means some judges to the right and some judges to the left and many in the middle; it is not all over to one side. President Bush told us he picked judges in the mold of Scalia and Thomas. If you look at the nine members of the Supreme Court, those are the two furthest to the right. One or two Scalias or Thomases, that is one thing. A bench of nine of them, that is not what Americans wanted in the election of 2000. The electorate was moderate and voted towards the middle. A bench filled with conservative judges is not what is in the mainstream of this country. It is unacceptable. I worry that the administration is willing to take casualties in this fight. They will send up waves of Scalias and Thomases. If one of them gets shot down, there will be another one. It is a small price to pay. They still win and stack the courts. I, for one, don't believe that is the way we should proceed. Our country is divided ideologically.”