The Truth In Arkansas Politics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts: Peter Carr (202) 224-9854
August 2, 2007 Jared Whitley (202) 224-0134

Statement of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch
before the Senate Judiciary Committee
“Scott Jennings Testimony about U.S. Attorneys”


Mr. Jennings, under the current circumstances, I am not sure what it means to welcome you to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

You should not be in the position you are in today, between a rock and a hard place as you described it in your statement. You have made it clear that you are willing to talk about these issues under the right circumstances. I believe you, Mr. Jennings, and I wish those circumstances had been allowed to exist so you could do just that.

The Senate should not be in this position. We are in this position, involving the clash between congressional subpoena and executive privilege, because my Democratic colleagues have put us in this position.

They chose from the beginning to ignore the separation of powers that gives authority to remove U.S. Attorneys to the President.

They chose to insist that the President’s reasons for exercising the President’s own authority must somehow satisfy Democratic Senators.

They chose to insist that the executive branch’s internal communication and decisionmaking about exercising the executive branch’s own authority is somehow a legitimate subject of congressional oversight.

They chose to make demands they knew the executive branch would resist, demands my Democratic colleagues would resist just as fully if the roles were reversed.

They chose to ask questions they know witnesses cannot answer and then to yell about a cover up.

They chose to cast mistakes or mishandling first as inconsistencies, then as improprieties, and even as illegalities.

They chose to drag this process on for nearly nine months, now pulling it from the political into the legal arena.

They chose to do all of that, and those choices are why we are in this position today. I wish they had made other choices, I wish they had followed another course.

It would be incorrect to say that my Democratic colleagues have absolutely nothing to show for their efforts. Congress said that allowing the Attorney General alone to appoint interim U.S. Attorneys could avoid Senate confirmation. So we replaced that with allowing Attorney General and a district court judge to appoint interim U.S. Attorneys, which equally can avoid Senate confirmation.

But in addition to that legislative triumph, there is the trashing of reputations and undermining of careers of hardworking public servants. And the misleading of the American people about the proper relationship between the legislative and executive branches.

And, of course, there is the enormous and growing expense of this fishing expedition. Every time that net comes up empty, my Democratic colleagues say they just know the fish are there, they just need one more cast of the net, they just need a bigger net, they just need to go deeper into the political ocean, or a step higher on the political food chain.

Is it any wonder that the American people’s disapproval of our job performance has gone steadily higher as this sorry tale has continued, from 52 percent in January and February, 56 percent in March and April, 60 percent in May and June, and 65 percent today. That is a real record of accomplishment.

So Mr. Jennings, I do not want to add to your untenable discomfort by asking questions that, at least under the current circumstances, I know you cannot answer. I just wanted to come here today to thank you for your service to this President and to the country.

I want to thank you for your sincere desire to cooperate with this committee under the right circumstances. My Democratic colleagues have chosen not to let those circumstances exist and I once again urge them to reconsider the path they have chosen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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