Reid in 2005: ‘Senate Has’ No Constitutional ‘Duty to Give Presidential Nominees a Vote’

HARRY REID: "And sadly now, the President of the United States has joined the fray and become the latest to rewrite the Constitution and reinvent reality. Speaking to fellow Republicans on Tuesday night, two days ago, he said that the Senate and I quote, 'has a duty to promptly consider each nominee on the Senate floor, discuss and debate their qualifications, and then give them the up or down vote they deserve.'

Every one of the ten that he speaks have had votes. Every one of them. Right here on the Senate floor people walked down to these two tables, name was called and they voted. And referring to the president, duty to whom? The radical right who see within their reach the destruction of America’s mainstream values?

It’s certainly not duty to the tenets of our Constitution or to the American people who are waiting for progress and promise, not partisanship and petty debates.

The duties of the United States Senate are set forth in the Constitution of the United States. Nowhere in that document does it say the Senate has a duty to give presidential nominees a vote. It says appointments shall be made with the advice and consent of the Senate. That is very different than saying that every nominee receives a vote."