CNN Inside Politics - Transcript
CNN Inside Politics - Transcript
Tuesday, July 5, 2005
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BASH: Suzanne, thank you very much. We will certainly be following all of those contentious issues surrounding the G-8 Summit in the days to come. Thanks, Suzanne. We appreciate it.
Now we turn back to the United States and the battle here over the Supreme Court nominee. We continue our discussion over potential replacements for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the confirmation process that lies ahead.
And joining us is Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. He is, of course, a current member and one-time chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Thank you very much, Senator, for joining us.
SEN. ORRIN HATCH, (R) UTAH: Well, nice to be with you.
BASH: Thank you.
First I want to talk about something that you might be familiar with, a quote that you gave in your memoirs. And that was talking about the discussion that you had with President Clinton when he was considering nominating his nominees. And I just want to read back a quote from you.
And you said in your book, quote, "I asked whether he had considered Judge Stephen Breyer of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals or Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. President Clinton indicated that he had heard Breyer's name, but had not thought of Judge Ginsburg. I indicated they thought they would be confirmed easily."
So there you are talking about your -- sounds pretty specific -- your consultation, maybe even collaboration with President Clinton over his pick. So why shouldn't President Bush do the same now with Democrats?
HATCH: Well, keep in mind, President Clinton made his suggestions as to who he thought he would like and I said I'd probably support those.
But in the case of Bruce Babbitt, I thought it would be a very contested choice. And I just mentioned that to him honestly and then said, "Have you looked at Breyer and Ginsburg?" And, of course, it went on from there.
It was a form of consultation, I guess, but keep in mind the Constitution does not require consultation. But it's a matter of courtesy that presidents do this, but it's a two-way street.
If the president consults with the senators, then the senators ought to be fair in consulting with him and they ought to, if they see that a nominee is a decent, honorable person of integrity and ability and good temperament, they ought to be supporting that person and not filibustering.
BASH: So when President Bush meets next week with Democrats in addition to Republicans, should he have that kind of conversation that President Clinton had with you about specific names in order to make this process as smooth as possible?
HATCH: I'm sure he will.
But keep in mind, he may be very happy to listen to what they -- to nominees that they feel might be good. I don't think there would be any question about that.
But in the end, all the presidents from Washington to Adams to Jefferson to Madison to Monroe to John Jay, they all admitted that the president has the sole power of appointment.
And unfortunately, some of our Democrats are saying that the president through consultation really has to let them have a major role in picking people for the Supreme Court, and that just isn't constitutionally correct nor is it historically correct. But that's the threat, I think, that some of our Democratic colleagues are making.
BASH: Senator Hatch, I want to turn to the subject of Alberto Gonzales. As you are well aware, conservatives have come out immediately and said that he would essentially be unacceptable, that they don't consider him conservative enough based on some of his rulings when he was back in Texas. You call that pure bunk. And as you know, President Bush is somebody who, even in this article with USA Today, this interview, he said, "When a friend gets attacked, I don't like it."
Could this immediate opposition to Gonzales backfire against conservatives?
HATCH: Well, first of all, they are not speaking for all conservatives. There are legitimate groups who are trying to push the president toward more conservative nominees. But I think they would all support Judge Gonzales if that's the choice the president makes. And they should. He's a very good man. But he's one of a number of them. He's one of just a large number of people who might be chosen.
BASH: And conservatives, some conservatives are now trying to argue on the legal merits against having Alberto Gonzales on the court saying that, first of all, he's needed as attorney general, but also that perhaps he would have to recuse himself from issues surrounding the war on terror and that would not be appropriate to have a justice on the Supreme Court who would have to do that.
Do you buy into that?
HATCH: Well, he is doing a very good job as attorney general. And, of course, a lot of the contentiousness has died down because of him and his reasonable and decent ways.
But, no, I don't agree with that. Unless it's a specific issue that he has ruled on as attorney general, I doubt seriously if he would have to recuse himself from any -- if all -- very few issues but I'm sure he would. But that's true of almost anybody.
If you pick some U.S. senator or you pick some member of Congress or you pick somebody that has served in the federal government, that may be true of them, as well.
So if you picked another judge, you never know when he or she might have to recuse themselves.
So that isn't really a major issue as far as I'm concerned.
BASH: Senator Hatch, I just want to ask one quick political question. Is there something to be said for the fact that perhaps this could be a blessing for President Bush in terms of kind of moving off the subject of his domestic agenda on Capitol Hill -- for example, Social Security, the fact that we are talking about the Supreme Court, not talking about Social Security which was not doing very well at all on Capitol Hill -- in terms of just pure politics, if you will, is this sort of a good thing for President Bush?
HATCH: Well, let's put it this way: Our Republican presidents over the last three Republican presidents have had a very difficult time during the confirmation process of Supreme nominees.
So I don't know that it will make that much different. But the president's doing fine domestically. We just passed a major energy bill in the Senate. The House has already passed one. We're going to get together on that.
On Social Security, we on the Finance Committee are meeting regularly on Social Security. I think everybody knows there are serious problems there. We can't just ignore them. The president has laid them out.
And I think most young people feel there won't be anything there for them when they retire. The president has said those 55 years of age or older, there would be absolutely no change in their Social Security. They would be absolutely guaranteed.
I think, literally, the president has an agenda for the domestic agenda that is a very good one.
Where the president is being unfairly blasted is on Iraq. And in all honesty if you look at Iraq, we turned out a major dictator who's killed hundreds of thousands of people, who was developing weapons of mass destruction, who has the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction.
And then in the process, we've turned that all around. Gadhafi has given up his weapons of mass destruction. We got now negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. We have got the Syrians hopefully pulling out of Lebanon -- a lot of changes.
BASH: Senator Hatch, I'm sorry to interrupt you. We will definitely have a lot of time, I'm sure, in the near future to talk about the situation in Iraq and a whole bunch of other things.
We really appreciate you joining us from Utah.
Thank you very much, sir. Happy Fourth of July.
HATCH: Nice to be with you.
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