Hatch On Schumer – 2003 Roberts Confirmation

By Lorie Byrd ~ July 20th, 2005 @ 1:19 am

From Howard Bashman at How Appealing (via Andrew at ConfirmThem):

Longtime readers may remember my posts from April 2003 (see here and here) recounting that when John G. Roberts, Jr. had the pleasure of his second confirmation hearing in 2003 before the Senate Judiciary Committee (committee print here) in connection with his D.C. Circuit nomination, Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) told Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) that Senator Schumer was asking “dumb-ass questions.” [See page 90 of the PDF file containing the hearing transcript.] FOXNews.com certainly remembers.

Here is an excerpt from that 2003 Fox News report:

“Some [of his questions] I totally disagree with,” Hatch of Utah said. “Some I think are dumbass questions, between you and me. I am not kidding you. I mean, as much as I love and respect you, I just think that’s true.”

A stunned Schumer asked if he heard the chairman correctly, to which Hatch said yes. Again, Schumer asked Hatch if he would like to “revise and extend his remark,” congressional speak for change his mind.

A former trial attorney, Hatch replied: “No, I am going to keep it exactly the way it is. I mean, I hate to say it. I mean, I feel badly saying it between you and me. But I do know dumbass questions when I see dumbass questions.”