Arlen Specter: “I begin by taking direct issue with the arguments by the Senator from Massachusetts. The advice and consent function set…”

“I begin by taking direct issue with the arguments by the Senator from Massachusetts. The advice and consent function set forth in the Constitution has been consistently interpreted for 216 years to confirm Presidential nominations, unless there is a reason not to. That has been the practice. Now we have a new position advocated by the Democrats, saying if there are 41 obstructors, then the Democrats want an equal share in the process of judicial selection. The Senator from South Dakota raised the consideration that no one on this side of the aisle had spoken up, when in effect the shoe was on the other foot when the Democrats controlled the White House and Republicans controlled the Senate. There were those on this side of the aisle who spoke up and said worthy nominees submitted by President Clinton should be confirmed. I was one of them. We did confirm a number of contested nominations: Judge Richard Paez, Marsha Berzon, Roger Gregory, and others. So it is true there have been delays when one party has controlled the White House and the other party has controlled the Senate. And Republicans are not blameless in this process. But I submit that in the 107th Congress, with President Bush in the White House and the Democrats in control of the Senate, the process has been carried to great extreme.”