Blumenthal: Part of our job is to review the record of the nominee as thoroughly as possible. We cannot do that on this record.
Both sides are using the same computer platform, into which the documents had to be uploaded overnight. Blumenthal to Grassley: How possible that your staff reviewed the 40,000 documents from yesterday? It's not possible, much less all the other documents.
Blumenthal: This situation is without parallel in our history. He quotes from an archivist at the National Archives: This has never happened before, and the Bush representatives who did review documents do not represent the National Archives.
Blumenthal: I renew my motion to adjourn the hearing.
Blumenthal: Rule 4 says committee chairman shall entertain non-debatable motion to bring a matter before the committee for a vote. That seems pretty clear to me, Mr. Chairman.
You are required to entertain my motion, Blumenthal says.
Blumenthal: All these documents will eventually come out. By law, these documents belong to the American people. It's only a matter of time, my Republican colleagues, before you will have to answer to these documents.
Grassley: Those rules apply to executive business sessions.
Blumenthal: Point me to the language that limits Rule 4 to executive business meetings.
Grassley: Point to me language to the contrary.
Blumenthal: I move to appeal the ruling of the chairman. The chairman is not above the committee rules. I move for roll-call vote.
Grassley: That would be appropriate if executive business session, but again, we're not.
Blumenthal: I am regretful that chair has adopted this stance.
And our first interruption of the afternoon.
Blumenthal: I have asked every judicial nominee before me whether he believes past decisions of the Supreme Court were correctly decided. So I will be asking about Roe v. Wade.
"Take the vote," says a protestor. But again, after receiving her warning, the protestor sits down. It's like a one free interruption card.
Cornyn now speaks up to ask about the time limit for opening statements.
Grassley: I was hoping that 10-minute rule would stand, but we got off to a bad start. Everybody started exceeding time limits.
Blumenthal speaking again. He'll be asking about Roe and Brown. Nominees have found ways to avoid answering those questions.
Two more protestors use their one free interruption chance. One smiles after receiving her warning, the other says. OK, thank you.
You are in a different position, Blumenthal says. Your vote could overturn even well-settled precedent, and there are indications in your writings that you believe Roe v. Wade could be overturned. That's why I want to know whether you think it was correctly decided.
Blumenthal: You have spent decades showing us what you believe. Or, more precisely, showing those groups (Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation) -- they are the groups that really nominated you.
Blumenthal: You have shown the far-right groups that you will be a loyal soldier on the court.
Blumenthal: More than a nominee, you are the candidate in a campaign that you have been conducting.
Blumenthal: We have an obligation to solicit from you where you will go on the court.
Blumenthal: I join in request that's been made of you that you show the initiative in having these hearings postponed. I think this process has been a discredit to you.
Blumenthal: If you are concerned after this process, there will always be a taint, an asterisk, after your name: appointed by an un-indicted co-conspirator without full documents being released. The question is why. You've mentored nominees through this process. You know that we have an obligation to inquire as to everything that can be relevant.
Blumenthal: It's not the number of documents, it's the percentage. We need everything that is relevant, including when you were staff secretary.
Blumenthal: We share respect and reverence for the U.S. Supreme Court. I was a law clerk and have argued cases. The power of the court depends not on armies but its credibility. I ask you to help us uphold this trust by asking this committee to suspend this hearing and come back when we have a full picture.
Grassley starts speaking, and then two more interruptions from the audience.
Grassley now getting into the nuances of how the documents were given (ie, pdf format) and also the computer powers.
The hearing has now effectively stopped.
Okay, Sen. Kennedy (R.-La.) picking up.
Kennedy: Let me explain what I'm looking for in a Supreme Court justice. I want a judge, not a politician.
Kennedy: It's true Sen. Booker and I are new to the Senate, but we're not new to politics. I'm not looking for an ideologue.
Kennedy: I'm looking for somebody who is whip smart, "who knows what a semi-colon is for."
Kennedy: Taxes, health care costs, etc have gone up, not incomes. But who is supposed to fix that? It's Congress, not the Supreme Court.
Kennedy: Role of judge is to say what the law is, not what the law ought to be. That's cliche, but cliches become cliches because they are true.
Kennedy: Now, you do have discretion, and we're going to talk about that. I understand that many have come to see the law as politics, but that's not what I'm looking for.
1857, Justice Curtis in dissent in Dred Scott case (Kennedy is saying): we no longer have a Constitution, we are under the government of individual men who have the power to say what the Constitution is under their own view of what it ought to mean.
Kennedy now quoting Justice Scalia: Value judgments ought to be voted on, not dictated.
Sen. Hirono, D-Hawaii, now up.
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