Lindsey Graham: “as Senator Hatch indicated, I do not think we are ``rolling the dice'' at all to vote for this uniquely qualified man.…”

“as Senator Hatch indicated, I do not think we are ``rolling the dice'' at all to vote for this uniquely qualified man. It is not about whether he gets confirmed. He will be confirmed in the Senate by the close of business on Thursday, unless something major happens that no one anticipates now. Judge Roberts will then become the 17th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and his confirmation will receive somewhere in the range of 70-plus votes probably. So his nomination is not in doubt. But I think this whole process will be viewed by scholars of the Court and those who follow the confirmation process, in the Senate particularly, in a very serious way because the vote totals do matter. He will get well over 50 votes, but the reasons being offered to vote ``no'' I think suggest a change in standard from the historical point of view of how the Senate approaches a nominee. One of the things I think they will look at in the Roberts confirmation process is: What is the standard? If it is an objective standard of qualifications, character, integrity, has the person lived their life in such a way as to be able to judge fairly, not to be ideologically driven to a point where they cannot see the merits of the case, then Judge Roberts should get 100 votes. The reason I say that is, not too long ago in the history of our country President Clinton had two Supreme Court vacancies occur on his watch. One was Justice Ginsburg, who sits on the Court now.…”