Charles Schumer Judge Quotations

Senator Specter's questions aren't exactly identical to the 80-plus that I've asked of Judge Roberts, but the spirit of asking them and the need for a response is the same.

If these documents reveal significant information about Judge Roberts' views and we are not getting them until the eve of the hearings, there could well be a need for additional time to question the nominee.

Certainly the attention of the 18 people who will do the questioning will not be diverted, ... One of the major, if not the major, worry many of us have about Judge Roberts is, does he believe in curtailing federal government power? And if there were ever a strong argument, a devastating argument in a very real sense, for strong federal government power, Hurricane Katrina made it.

I, for one, believe a judge can be pro-life yet be fair, balanced, and uphold a woman's right to choose. But for a judge to set aside his or her own personal views, the commitment to the rule of law must clearly supersede his or her personal agenda. That's a trick some can pull off, but not everyone can.

Given the even greater importance of this new position, we hope the White House will reconsider its refusal to release relevant and important documents that will shed light on what kind of Chief Justice Judge Roberts would become.

Judge Roberts should explain as soon as possible why he thought it was appropriate for him to continue hearing this case,

Judge Roberts has a clear obligation to make his views known fully and completely at the hearings and we look forward to them.

You have to wait and see how Judge Roberts answers questions, ... He has to tell us who he is, judicially speaking. Americans overwhelmingly want to know his views.

You have to wait and see how Judge Roberts answers questions.

This nomination certainly raises the stakes in making sure that the American people and the Senate know Judge Roberts' views fully before he assumes perhaps the second most powerful position in the United States.

At the hearings, I gave Judge Roberts every opportunity to distance himself from Justice Thomas's most extreme views, ... He refused.

As we approach the hearings, rather than feel confident that we will hear candid answers to critical questions about judicial philosophy, I am concerned that the stage is being set for Judge Roberts to refuse to answer,

Nothing is on the table and nothing is off the table. Let's learn what we can about Judge Scalia,

If Judge Roberts repeatedly resorts to the so-called 'Ginsburg Precedent,' it will sound less like a principled refusal to answer and more like a variation on the Fifth Amendment: 'I refuse to answer that question on the ground that it may incriminate me. Answering may reveal my actual views about constitutional law and cause me to lose votes,'

If he is out of the mainstream and will use his tremendously powerful position as Supreme Court judge to impose his views on the American people, then there's a potential for a filibuster, and no one really knows that until the hearings.

If he's a mainstream conservative, if he doesn't use a court to impose his views on the American people, he's likely to get approved, If he is out of the mainstream and will use his tremendously powerful position as Supreme Court judge to impose his views on the American people, then there's a potential for a filibuster, and no one really knows that until the hearings.

The echoes of then-Judge Thomas's empty reassurances that he was a mainstream jurist are ringing in the ears of every senator who listened to many nearly identical statements from Judge Roberts last week,