Orrin Hatch: “That letter makes it very clear that not only were the rules not abused, there was an abuse by the other side in trying…”

“That letter makes it very clear that not only were the rules not abused, there was an abuse by the other side in trying to not live up to the rule we have in the committee that any item on the agenda can be put over for a week, and that in the next week there is a vote on that item, unless the chairman and the ranking member agree. In this case, we not only put over Roberts and Cook for a week, we put them over for 2 weeks, because my colleagues asked for it. I agreed to do that in deference to them. Then, when it came time to vote for them, I walked into the committee room and I was told by the ranking member that they weren't going to vote on Roberts and Cook that day. I said: Oh, no, we are going to vote on them because that is what we agreed to. We are going to vote on them because that is what the rules agree to. So I waited for all Senators to make their comments. We took 3 hours to hear rather long statements. I think we were very patient with those statements because at least one of them hardly talked about the nominees but talked about a whole raft of other issues involving the committee, which is a right of a Senator. Other Senators gave long statements on the nominees themselves, which was their right to do. But when the statements wound down and there were no further statements to be given, I said: We are going to vote. And that is when people got mad and demanded that we not vote.”