Orrin Hatch: “here we are in the middle of an unprecedented filibuster against the first Hispanic nominee to the Circuit Court of…”

“here we are in the middle of an unprecedented filibuster against the first Hispanic nominee to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia--against a man who has a unanimously well-qualified rating by the ABA, which was the gold standard of the Democrats and something that a lot of confirmed judges did not have; a man who has all the credentials in the world-- magna cum laude from Columbia, magna cum laude from the Harvard School of Law, editor in chief of the Law Review, clerked for two Federal judges, one on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals put on the bench by President Carter, a Democrat, and, the other, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy--lots of experience, worked in the Solicitor General's Office. We have heard a lot of arguments, and many respected arguments. We have heard that Mr. Estrada has not answered the questions of Senators on that side. Well, he has. He spent a full day when they conducted the hearings. They set the agenda. They asked any questions they wanted to ask. They were in control. They have even said on the floor during this debate that the hearings were conducted fairly by them. Then, when the election was lost, all of a sudden they now want to ask more questions. And, by the way, they had an opportunity to ask any written questions after the full hearing. Only two Senators asked written questions--Senator Durbin from Illinois and Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts. He answered those questions.…”