If I hadn't lived through the past few years in American media and politics, I wouldn't have believed my ears this morning. I was watching Chuck Todd's show for the first time. He was given a bombshell and did nothing with it. The things Orrin Hatch claimed on the show are newsworthy, but Todd wasn't up to the task and proved inadequate when given this news.
Orrin Hatch was interviewed by both Todd and his cohost Samantha Guthrie. Hatch is the leading republican on the Judiciary Committee, and the interview was supposed to be about Elena Kagan's confirmation process for the Supreme Court.
The part of the interview that is interesting:
TODD: What advice would you give Elena Kagan to not do what Sotomayor did so that she can earn your vote?
HATCH: #1 advice I give Elena Kagan, tell the truth no matter how much it hurts. Just tell the truth. People will respect you for it. #2 I think that she has to prove she'll be fair, nonpartisan and HONEST on the court...
GUTHRIE interrupts: Are you suggesting you feel like Sotomayor was not truthful or candid with you?
HATCH: She's on the court. I'm not going to get into that at this time, but I have to say I was disappointed in some of her answers, knowing what I knew, and that bothered me a great deal. I still anguished over voting against her but in the end I decided to do that.
Justice Sotomayor has the distinction of being the first nominee that Hatch voted against that was still confirmed to the Court.
And so THREE TIMES within the space of a minute, Orrin Hatch teases that Sonya Sotomayor lied to the Senate in her confirmation hearings, Hatch knew it, and he still is not coming clean with the American people. He voted against her, but he's keeping this secret about why he voted against her. It's not because she's an Obama appointee, it's because she lied and he must have information to prove it.
After that one question by Guthrie, the show dropped the whole scandal. Hatch went on to talk about Kagan being qualified with an impressive resume, but he wonders if she'll be partisan. They talked in general about the confirmation process and the Supreme Court. Then they talked about Bennett losing his seat and Hatch was concerned about what that might mean for Utah as Bennett had been expected to be leading republican on the Banking Committee within the next few years. Then Todd and Guthrie ended the interview with a trivia question about music.
So, Orrin Hatch just said on national TV that he knows Sonya Sotomayor lied to the Senate in her confirmation process to the Supreme Court. But, Orrin Hatch is no whistleblower, even though coming forward would probably earn him a lifetime Senate seat in Utah. Go figure.
He did open a can of worms though. His office is not dishing yet, but maybe with enough inquiries Hatch will wind up telling all. And while we're at it, maybe we can get all the insider information on Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito. That would only be fair. Let's open it all up to public scrutiny and make sure that none of these people lied to the Senate. We obviously can't count on the Senators enforcing our laws, and being "less than truthful" to the Senate is supposed to be a serious crime.
I'm not surprised that a republican made some shitty remark about Sonya Sotomayor. She's come to expect it and so have we. But Hatch is the leading republican on the Judiciary Committee. When he gives an interview about a new confirmation, he should be expected to give a straightforward interview and tell only facts. He should not be able to get away with sniping and defaming a Justice who might be "too liberal." He should not be able to get away with smearing Obama appointees every chance he gets for the rest of his life.
If he has information, I think he should give it up. And if there is any other information about any of the other Justices, I think he should give that up, too. I know most of us are not his constituents, but he went on national television and made some serious claims. He needs to either come clean or apologize to the American people for doing what he did. I'm not saying phone calls will make that happen, but I do think that maybe next time he'll control himself a little better when he jumps in front of a camera.
His office number is 202-224-5251