Chuck Schumer: “1 month ago, I expected to be on the Senate floor sometime about now engaged in a debate over the pros and cons of…”

“1 month ago, I expected to be on the Senate floor sometime about now engaged in a debate over the pros and cons of President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court. Of course, I thought it would be Harriet Miers we would be debating. But that never occurred. As the Senate takes up the nomination of Harriet Miers' replacement, Judge Samuel Alito, we should all continually bear in mind how we got to this point because recent history goes a long way in explaining why the American people want us to examine every portion of Judge Alito's record with great care. Harriet Miers' nomination was blocked by a cadre of conservative critics who lambasted her at every turn. Why? Because they were not satisfied that her judicial ideology matched their conservative extremism. They were not certain that her legal philosophy squared with their political agenda. In the end, Harriet Miers' nomination was blocked before she could explain her judicial philosophy, before she could have a full and fair hearing to answer the doubters, before she could have an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. She was blocked by conservatives and Republicans, not Democrats. She was not given an up- or-down vote by many of the same people who are clamoring for an up-or- down vote on Samuel Alito. The standards seem to change with the nominee. Many of the very people who denied Harriet Miers an up-or-down vote are now saying that there is an imperative to give Samuel Alito one.…”