Orrin Hatch: “one thing it does establish is that there really is a filibuster by our colleagues on the other side. They have been…”

“one thing it does establish is that there really is a filibuster by our colleagues on the other side. They have been denying this right up to now, so that is why we have to have a cloture vote to show that there is a filibuster; for the first time in history, a true filibuster against a circuit court of appeals nominee. That is a constitutional issue and it is an important constitutional issue. I was really blown away by my colleague's assertion that we are trying to just make an imperial President. That is not at all the case. We know the Senate has an obligation to look at these judges. As a matter of fact, whenever we say we treated their judges better than they are treating Miguel Estrada, they are using a double standard on Miguel Estrada, and they say their judges were not controversial. Give me a break. I will be willing to ask Miguel Estrada to give detailed answers to every question that was asked of Marsha Berzon, every question that was asked of Judge Paez, every question that was asked of Margaret Morrow. Those hearings lasted minutes. This lasted a solid day, more than most nominees in the history of the country for the Circuit Court of Appeals. By the way, for those on the other side who keep trying to imply--I was interested in my words that were put up. What was wrong with those words? They were absolutely true. We should not have activist judges on the bench. I disagree with their characterization that activist means anything but activist.”