Chuck Schumer

This amendment, which is a bipartisan amendment, cosponsored by Senator Biden of Delaware, Senator Snowe of Maine, Senator Smith of Oregon, Senator Bayh of Indiana, and myself is simply a sense-of-the-Senate amendment that when we come…

First is a prayer. First, Mr. President, as I listened to the chaplain from St. Joseph's give the prayer and we said the pledge, I think every one of us who was here felt a renewed depth and meaning to both the prayer and the pledge, given…

How many of these nominees were never brought up even for debate? Does my colleague think it is even worse than trying to figure out what his views are than never having the debate on the floor and never bringing them up and never giving…

Yes, there was a vote on Mr. Rutledge--after he revealed his views on the Jay Treaty and other issues. Of course, we should have a vote on Miguel Estrada. I don't disagree with that. But not until we know how he feels on the vital issues…

I have no idea how he feels about the first amendment or about the 11th amendment, and the balance between the Federal Government and the States, the very issues the Founding Fathers wanted us to know. The judiciary, and I know my…

The bottom line is, the Founding Fathers wanted the Senate to be actively involved in the process. It is my understanding, as I read the Federalist papers and the deliberations of the Founding Fathers, for a good period of time they were…

He was his immediate superior. But the bottom line is this: My colleague from Utah immediately discounts Mr. Bender because he does not agree with his view on certain issues. OK. If, if, if, if Mr. Bender is wrong, the documents will show…

So I say to my colleague, to achieve a lifetime appointment on this very serious court, Mr. Estrada ought to be willing to sit--I am not saying we should do this--for a week or a week and a half. He is 42 years old. He is likely to be on…

I am aware of that. I was sitting on the floor when Senator Daschle brought it up. He made an excellent point, I thought. He said the other side seemed to be concerned about one man's job, Miguel Estrada. By the way--and Senator Daschle…

My colleague is exactly correct. I brought this up before while we were debating Miguel Estrada, so we could go off the Estrada issue to debate the economy and homeland security, which my good friend from Montana had the good grace to say…

Yes. Senator Leahy, our chairman, made every effort to bring nominees through. When I tell my constituents--the few who care about this, frankly, because most of them want us to talk about the economy or homeland security--that we have…

I do want to say, however, that some on the other side are attempting to convey the impression that it is we, the Democrats, who continue the debate on Miguel Estrada. We do not. We have, indeed, asked Mr. Estrada to answer the most…

I think what he is doing on these fuel-cell cars is great and the way to the future. I commend him for his bill.

I ask my colleague, does Miguel Estrada talk about how he feels about the 1st amendment, or the 2nd amendment, or the 11th amendment, or the commerce clause, or the right to privacy, or all the major issues that he will rule on for the…

Why shouldn't we be accorded the same right, as he espoused in his speech in 1997, to get all the details to this appointment to the second highest court of the land, which is going to have a lifetime--Mr. Estrada has a job now; but this…

Now, in those papers, the books that my colleague has held up--I have read them. I read the whole transcript. I was there for much of it. I chaired that hearing.

Two questions. I want to follow up again on what the Senator from South Dakota said in the dialog with my colleague from Illinois. First, I know the Estrada judge issue has gotten a lot of attention in the newspapers. When I go back to my…

The final question in relation to the hearing tomorrow, would the chairman of the committee, the Senator from Utah, just give us 1 day of questions for Mr. Roberts? As the Senator well knows, we had an unprecedented three court of appeals…

One judge nominated to the same DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Mr. Snyder--a fine judge, well respected, the highest ABA rating, same thing as Miguel Estrada in a lot of ways--never got a hearing, he never got a vote. He is from DC. There…

I do not begrudge him one bit. I do not think he has an ounce of discrimination in his body--how that was not anti-Hispanic, but opposing Judge Estrada was anti-Hispanic, he prefaced his remarks by saying, well, you are opposing not…

I thank the Chair. So, Mr. President, I ask my colleague, the Senator from Utah, how one is any different from the other. And isn't, as it seems to most of us, one the mirror image of the other, either exactly blasphemous or equally pure?

My friend from Utah just characterized the kinds of questions, such as what are your opinions of court cases, in an attempt to destroy the career of Mr. Estrada. I would like to ask the Senator, you were just talking about Judge Paez with…

I am glad to see we are not destroying careers by asking those kinds of questions.

Now that the Senator from Utah knows that Judge Barkett is Hispanic, would he in any way characterize his own action as anti- Hispanic?

My question is, did my good friend from Utah not say about Judge Barkett: I led the fight to oppose [Judge Rosemary Barkett's] confirmation . . . because [her] judicial records indicated she would be an activist who would legislate from…