Patrick Leahy: “I can assure him that neither the chairman of the Judiciary Committee nor the majority leader intends to emulate what…”

“I can assure him that neither the chairman of the Judiciary Committee nor the majority leader intends to emulate what the Republicans did, with a pocket filibuster of more than 60 of President Clinton's nominees. I know of nobody on this side of the aisle who expects the Democrats to do a pocket filibuster of 60 of President Bush's nominees, as the Republicans did of President Clinton's. It is interesting, when I hear this talk about historical averages, they weren't only--when you bring up the number of times there was a Democratic majority with a Republican President, a Republican President was treated far better than the Republicans treated a Democratic President. At no time were the Democrats ever pocket-filibustering 60 of the President's nominees. There has been talk about President Bush withdrawing some of these nominees he had last year. I point out he had a Republican majority throughout the year, and they didn't pass through many. One was opposed by organizations that had never taken a position on a judge before--the Wildlife Federation--and all the Native American councils. Another one was not only involved in running the torture memos, but after swearing under oath and telling us information, he broke that oath by never giving or bringing the information. That was a person who would not have gotten a majority under a Republican-controlled committee.”