Orrin Hatch: “Absolutely. Not only did they hold one of the longest hearings in history for a circuit court appeals nominee--conducted…”

“Absolutely. Not only did they hold one of the longest hearings in history for a circuit court appeals nominee--conducted by them, which they said was fair, where they had the privilege of asking every question they wanted or even extending the hearings if they did not believe they got answers to those questions--but afterwards they had a right to submit written questions. And, by the way, only two people did, the distinguished Senator from Illinois and the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Durbin and Mr. Kennedy. By the way, I do not believe Senator Durbin was even there during the hearings to ask questions. And yet I have seen, time after time, the distinguished Senator from Illinois take the floor and talk about the nonanswers that were supposedly given. I refer all of my colleagues to the speech made earlier by the distinguished Senator from Tennessee Senator Alexander. He blew that contention that Miguel Estrada did not answer these questions into oblivion. I recommend everybody in this country read that speech because he actually showed the A-plus answers that Miguel Estrada gave to Democrat and Republican questions. And they were thorough. They were answers that would make anybody proud. They were answers that any judicial nominee would be proud to do. And, frankly, he answered them better than almost any judicial nominees I have seen in the last 27 years.”