Patrick Leahy: “We suffered through 3 years during which Republican staff stole Democratic files off the Judiciary computer servers. It…”

“We suffered through 3 years during which Republican staff stole Democratic files off the Judiciary computer servers. It is as though those currently in power believe they are above our constitutional checks and balances and they can reinterpret any treaty, law, rule, custom, or practice. If they don't like it or they find it inconvenient, they set it aside. It was tragic that the committee that judges the judges did not follow its own rules but broke them to achieve a predetermined result. It was through these means that divisive and controversial judicial nominees were repeatedly brought before the Senate in the last Congress. It was through these abuses that the majority acted as handmaidens to the administration to create confrontation after confrontation over controversial nominees. They dragged the judiciary, which should be above politics, into the political thicket and did so for partisan gain. I applaud the Senator from Pennsylvania who has worked to bring us back in the Senate Judiciary Committee to following our rules in the comity that makes it work. I regret that filibusters have been necessary in the past 2 years. I wish Republicans would not have followed their years of secret holds and pocket filibusters of more than 60 of President Clinton's nominees, judicial nominees, and more than 200 of his executive nominees.…”