There’s a very decisive bipartisan flavor to this vote,

I think it would have been smarter had the attorney general, looking at the many years of Starr’s involvement and the public perception, which is adverse to Starr … let someone else come in, …...

You don’t have the votes in the House of Representatives to overcome a presidential veto.

[The Supreme Court’s 5 to 4 decision rejected Congress’s findings and its] method of reasoning, … Is there any real justification for the court’s denigrating Congress’s ‘method of reasoning’?

I want to accommodate people as best as I could.

[Noting that Bush said during the third campaign debate that he would] not impose a litmus test … would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations I’ve mentioned.

It would be quite a sacrifice for her, but she’s prepared to do it if she is asked, … By next June we’ll know a lot more about Judge Roberts … than we do today.

She’s intelligent, she’s hard-working, unquestioned integrity. She fought her way up, couldn’t get a job when she graduated from law school because she was a woman.

The majority leader has committed to bringing it up as one of the first items next year,

There likely will be a national debate about whether the president really has the kind of power he’s been using.

Mr. Rove, like every other citizen, is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and until somebody says that he’s done something wrong, he ought to be permitted to go about his business like anybody else.

What is your thinking on the jurisprudence of U.S. v. Lopez and U.S. v. Morrison, which overturned almost 60 years of Congress’ power under the Commerce Clause?

I’m intrigued by his concept of a dialogue among equals,

[Specter said afterward that he had urged Bush to delay naming a choice to succeed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.] The president was noncommittal, … The body language was not very positive.

Judge Roberts has projected a very unique persona as he has talked about modesty and humility,

three possible verdicts: guilty, not guilty, not proved.

biggest challenge of the year and perhaps the decade.

And that’s why I believe — and I have seen with my experience in the Senate the value of public hearings — when FBI Director Mueller has to answer these questions, when CIA Director Tenet...

If the Senate were to reject the treaty, then it would be highly publicized worldwide. It would be an open excuse for countries like India and Pakistan to continue nuclear testing which I think is...

Look here, we’re faced with a lot of undesirable alternatives. And rather than put the country through impeachment, which I don’t believe would result in anything … let him serve out his term

The hearings will not start until there is a date agreeable to her, … It would be unfair to start the hearings before she is ready.

This is a sad episode.

Basically, Americans do not understand the gravity of the oversights on what appears to be the case with both the FBI and the CIA,

the fight that people have been anticipating for some time.

to stand by that which is decided.

There was no explanation as to why the memo did not go to other places. Nobody knows at this stage, and that is something that has to be pursued.

[But Republican Arlen Specter (Pa.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also expressed irritation when Roberts refused to answer questions about several Supreme Court decisions striking down laws passed by Congress to help the...

I think her record shows very substantial capacity to take on tough assignments and do them well,

Wait a minute. They may be misleading, but they are his answers, … You may finish, Judge Roberts.

Should (the information) have been shared if it could have prevented (the) 9/11 (attacks)?

It naturally raises cynicism when you have so many 5-4 decisions from our Supreme Court and 4-3 decisions out of the Florida Supreme Court and that is not healthy, … But our republic will survive.

We all have our points of view, and they were expressed pretty forcefully in quite a number of the rounds of questions,

The more I see of this, the more it becomes apparent that there is no solid reason for that secrecy, … It is in the context of public disclosure and media attention that we really...

Sen. Leahy and I took a look at it and agreed that it was insufficient and are sending back a detailed letter asking for amplification on many, many of the items,

Voting in favor would put senators in a better position to oppose later or a vote in opposition would put the president on notice that he better put somebody up who was acceptable to a...

The sooner we get into a hearing room where there’s a stenographer and public record, the better off the process is,

The president’s [fiscal year] ’07 budget proposal is going to require substantial modifications by the Congress.

I think that it is more reason to question him closely at the hearing.

Because of enormous public importance of the upcoming mayoral election, the Department of Justice should release all information concerning the issue related to the bugging of Mayor Street’s office, so long as no potential defendant’s...

American credibility in the war on terrorism depends on a strong stand against all terrorist acts, whether committed by foe or friend.

I must say I am not pleased to have to arrange the Senate schedule around the availability of Senators who are running for President.

I think that … Senator Helms may really make a martyr out of Bill Weld here, … Evans and Novak.

I am committed to conducting a full, fair and dignified hearing.

In the context where the Supreme Court decides, really, the cutting-edge questions of our day

I’ll have greater confidence in your telling me I’m wrong when you have all the facts,

I’m going to listen to what he says and I’m going to respond to it the best I can,

What you’ve had here . . . is not a rush to judgment — it’s a stampede to judgment,

I’d like the specifics in writing, focusing on why the people whose information was breached couldn’t have been notified earlier. Those people are all at risk, and you have a duty to notify them at...

The Senate and the Judiciary Committee can accomplish more in three cooperative hours than in three days or three weeks of disharmonious activity,

You have both sides poles apart and insistent on finding some answer to that question in advance of the hearing, which no one is entitled to, … Late Edition.