Jim Sensenbrenner: “this is the wrong time, the wrong procedure, and the wrong amendment to deal with what is a very legitimate problem. If…”

“this is the wrong time, the wrong procedure, and the wrong amendment to deal with what is a very legitimate problem. If the procedure that was outlined by the gentleman from California's motion to recommit were in place at the time Justice Scalia and Vice President Cheney went on their duck-hunting trip, the other eight Justices of the Supreme Court would decide whether or not Justice Scalia could vote on the case that Vice President Cheney was a named litigant in. This can be subject to extreme misuse as people could file complaints again Justices and ask for recusals to take them out and to take their votes out if they felt that the Justices would vote the wrong way. And the same thing under the gentleman from California's motion to recommit would apply at the district court and the Court of Appeals level, and that is whether a judge's colleagues will determine whether or not a judge has a vote on a piece of litigation that is coming before the court. Now, I concede the fact that there is a problem that the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) has recognized; but his solution is the wrong solution. The correct solution is to allow the commission that has been appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist and which is headed by Justice Steven Bryer, looking into judicial misconduct statutes and how they should be changed to come up with a recommendation that can either be enacted into law by statute or adopted as a rule of civil or criminal procedure.”