Orrin Hatch: “I can recall as recently as the last year of the Clinton administration, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and…”

“I can recall as recently as the last year of the Clinton administration, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and others and myself voting for cloture on judges that we personally opposed and subsequently did oppose, even though we knew there was a chance of killing them on filibuster. I think of Paez and I think of Berzon. Does the chairman of the committee share my view that we may have gone so far now that this would be the pattern forever in the Senate, denying judges up-or-down votes because we find them unacceptably liberal or conservative or too steeped in personal beliefs that they are willing to express before the committee?”