Chuck Schumer: “I will reclaim my time on that one. There are strong feelings on this side, as the Senator knows. It has nothing to do…”

“I will reclaim my time on that one. There are strong feelings on this side, as the Senator knows. It has nothing to do with games. To me, this rises to a sacred responsibility. And I don't use those words lightly. The bottom line is--again, I would first say to my friend from Utah, this is not a referendum on his stewardship on the Judiciary. It is, again, part of an extremely important process about who is on the bench, who is part of that third branch of Government and put there for life. But I would say to my friend--and he is the best in the business--the high dudgeon all of a sudden when a few nominees are held up for whatever reason and sort of the muted signs when he was chairman and many nominees were being held up, albeit not in exactly the same way--I would say it is a difference that doesn't make a difference; it is sort of, well, inconsistent. Again, that doesn't go to the personal integrity of my friend from Utah who did try in many instances but didn't succeed. And how we should be judged, so to speak, is by who gets on the bench and who does not because that is ultimately what the process is about. I would mention, in my colleague's recounting, there were lots who withdrew their nominations. You had the DC Circuit, the second most important circuit, for which both Miguel Estrada and Judge Roberts have been nominated, where there were no blue slip problems and there were no votes. So we can go over history.…”