SEN. LOTT: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Thurmond, for yielding me this time. The hour is late, and we do have limited time now, and this matter has already gone on too long. So I must cut right to the heart of the decision that I've made.
I have not spoken earlier on the floor of the Senate with regard to this nomination for a variety of reasons, one of them being that others needed to talk longer than I felt a need to. But now I feel that I absolutely must make a public announcement here in the Senate of my own decision, and that is that I will vote for the confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas.
I want to go back beyond where we are today and talk a little bit about what transpired before the events of the last week. I did not stake out an early position. I wanted to see what happened in the Judiciary Committee. I wanted to hear the evidence in the hearings, and so I listened to it very closely. And I made up my mind to vote for Judge Thomas and made that final decision on Thursday before we were supposed to vote originally on Tuesday.
I did it for these reasons. First, I looked at the man's background, and I am impressed. I feel that what he has experienced in his life, coming from Pin Point, Georgia, and what he experienced going through life, and reaching the point he has reached now will clearly be an asset for him on the Supreme Court and that his voice will be an important one on the Supreme Court. So on his background, I thought clearly he had brought something important to this nomination and to the appointment to the Supreme Court.
On education, clearly he is qualified by his educational background for this position. And from his experience, I have watched him in this city for a number of years now, and I watched him take on difficult positions with a lot of pressure, both on his confirmations and the way he handled his job. I thought he always handled those jobs magnificently. He was experience in the executive branch, and he is a sitting federal judge, having been confirmed by this body. So, by his experience, clearly he was qualified. And by his character, I reached the conclusion that he had the judicial demeanor and the character to do this job and do it properly.
And then we had these --
SEN. : The time of the Senator, the two minutes has expired.
SEN. LOTT: Mr. President, I know the time is very limited, so I will just put my remarks in the record. I urge that this man be confirmed for the Supreme Court.