Senate Proceeding on Nov 19th, 2009 :: 4:36:00 to 4:43:00
Total video length: 10 hours 21 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:22 Duration: 0:07:00 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

4:35:44 to 4:36:07( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: mr. leahy: mr. president, is there a division of time in this matter? the presiding officer: time until 2:30 is equally divided. mr. leahy: i thank the distinguished presiding officer,

4:36:00 to 4:43:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Patrick Leahy

4:36:08 to 4:36:28( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: and i yield myself ten minutes. the distinguished presiding officer is a member of the senate judiciary committee. he knows, we all do, that today we're going to conclude our long-delayed consideration of the nomination of judge david hamilton of indiana to the

4:36:29 to 4:36:49( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: seventh circuit. in a rare, rare incidence, this matter's not only been delayed for months but actually filibustered. earlier this week, 70 senators, democrats, independents, and republicans came together to overcome a filibuster of this legislation.

4:36:50 to 4:37:10( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: now, this has been a record year. i've been here 35 years. there's never been a year like this, where one party been so much the party of "no." it's been a record year for filibusters by the republican minority. filibusterof legislation, filibusters of executive nominations, filibusters of

4:37:11 to 4:37:31( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: judicial nominations, filibusters that a few years ago when there was a republican president, they called such filibusters unconstitutional. ah, the shortness of memories. after their filibuster failed, what they achieved was obstruction and delay. this no nomination's been stalled in the senate executive

4:37:32 to 4:37:52( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: committee for now, this is person who's gotten the highest possible rating for a judge, who was nominated by president obama after senators will his home state, one a republican, one a democrat.

4:37:53 to 4:38:17( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: incidentally, the republicans are the most senior republican here who strongl supports judge hamilton. now, we did havto have 30 hours of possible debate after we got the -- after we broke the

4:38:20 to 4:38:41( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: filibuster to attack judge hamilton, this man, they thought they had to hold off month after month after month after month. do you know how long they used that 30 hours? barely an hour to talk about this. only four republican senators have spoken at all, and that includes the ranking member of the committee, who

4:38:42 to 4:39:02( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: claims he's made five times to the senate since september 17 i don't know what more president obama can do. he sought consultation of republicans and democrats. he's nominated mainstream judges

4:39:03 to 4:39:23( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: in sharp contrast to the methods of his predecessor who focused on a noir row ideological effort to -- on a narrow effort to pack the federal court, often did not consult with the senators from the home states, too often tried to force extreme candidates through the senate. here, president obama said at

4:39:24 to 4:39:48( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: the recommendation of myself and many others, turn the page, don't do that kind of effort to ram ideologically partisan nominees through talk to both republicans and democrats. he did that. nominates a mainstream judge and then he's blocked and

4:39:49 to 4:40:10( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: filibustered for months. senator -- judge andre davis of maryland, a distinguished african-american judge, was stereotyped as antilaw enforcement last week by republican critics. this week, judge hamilton, the son of a metho methodist minister, has been christianity.

4:40:11 to 4:40:33( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: they did that by twisting h rulings in two cases. that's not fair treatment. the hamilton's record by right-wing special interest groups seeking to vilify him, he repeated in editorials in "the washington times" and by republican opponents in the senate.

4:40:34 to 4:40:56( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: the fai judicial screening board of the american bar association saw through all that. the republicans and alike saw through it and gave him their highest possible rating. and these distortions were soundly refuted earlier this week by the senior senator from indiana and the senior

4:40:57 to 4:41:18( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: republican of this body, senator lugar, and i doubt that i will be able to add to the sound and thorough rebuttal. i told senator lugar it was one of the finest speeches i've heard in my decades here. i would point out that judge hamilton's critics are wrong and they've been wrong all along.

4:41:19 to 4:41:39( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: they use a distorted lens to refute -- to review a 15-year judicial record in which he has not substituted empathy for the law to have confirmed to a new appointment. it's reminiscent of the salem witch trials: they see what they want see.

4:41:40 to 4:42:01( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: senator lugar noted this week the president of the indiana federalist society, conservative republican group, endorsed judge hamilton as an excellent jurist and first-rate intellect with a judicial philosophy well within the mainstream. senator lugar's own review of his record with help from a former counselor to president reagan led him to conclude based

4:42:02 to 4:42:23( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: on that record that judge hamilton has not been a judicial activist, he's ruled objectively within the judicial mainstream. and senator bayh reinforced that conclusion. basically what they're saying is president obama nominates somebody, we've got to be against them.

4:42:24 to 4:42:44( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: president obama actually -- i hate to have to break this news, but president obama won the election. he won it overwhelmingly. and the president wins, gets to nominate the judges. fortunately, judge hamilton's critics a speaking the talking

4:42:45 to 4:43:01( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick Leahy: points of a narrow special interest group to twist a handful of the judge's cases to make biased and unfair attacks on his character. he had 8,000 cases and they take a couple out of context.