Chuck Schumer: “The best evidence of how Miguel Estrada feels--given that he has not written articles, he has not been a judge where we…”

“The best evidence of how Miguel Estrada feels--given that he has not written articles, he has not been a judge where we can see his record-- are these documents. We have debated this over and over again. There is no privilege. There is no anything else. Senator Leahy and Senator Daschle, in a letter to my colleague--and I will be delighted to yield when I have finished my answer--have laid out the conditions by which we believe we would at least get some bit of evidence to see who Miguel Estrada really is. That is not in terms of his history, which has been repeated over and over again on the floor, and a wonderful history it is, but in terms of how he thinks and how he would think and how he would rule as a judge. So the best evidence is not hearsay evidence; it is the written evidence. But let me just say in regard to the hearing--and here is my problem with the offer and why the written evidence is so important-- let us say Miguel Estrada again refuses. He sits for 10 hours and refuses to answer--or answers, let's characterize it, in the same way. I ask him--Dianne Feinstein asks him his feelings on Roe v. Wade, and he says I can't tell you that.”