Gonzales Approved by Committee

GONZALES APPROVED BY COMMITTEE

The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary favorably reported Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales today on a party line vote of 10-8.

Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who joined nine other Republican colleagues in voting favorably for Bush's nominee, praised Gonzales for his experience and ability and commended him for handling what devolved into a contentious nomination with dignity and aplomb.

"Judge Gonzales is a man of great integrity," said Hatch. "He has the character, education, and experience to exercise independent judgment in the interest of the American public. He is well qualified to be Attorney General of the United States."

Although a number of Judiciary Democrats had praised Gonzales when he appeared before the committee during a hearing two weeks ago - with some saying they would vote to approve his nomination - each voted against Gonzales today and took turns criticizing the nominees for his role as White House Counsel and for his performance during the hearing.

"I listened carefully to Judge Gonzales' responses during the Committee's hearing," said Hatch, "and he clearly understands the differences between the role of White House Counsel, where he represents only the White House, and his role as Attorney General, where he represents all citizens of the United States."

"Just last week, Judge Gonzales submitted over 200 pages of responses to written questions after his hearing. I believe that Judge Gonzales attempted to answer the questions and be responsive," Hatch added. "Today, some Senators focused on the few sentences where they say he refused to provide complete information and ignored all the other sentences in response to over 450 written questions that describe at length all of this knowledge on a wide variety of issues."

http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=1273&Month=1&Year=2005