At a speech Wednesday at Utah Valley State College, Sen. Orrin Hatch said he will thwart any attempts by Democrats to block the nomination of BYU general counsel Thomas Griffiths to the federal bench during this session of Congress.

Griffiths, who was counsel to the Senate during the impeachment of President Clinton, was one of 20 judges who failed to win Senate confirmation in the last Congress.

In December, President Bush renominated Griffiths to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which is considered the nation's second-most-influential court.

"We're going to get him through," Hatch said. "He could eventually end up on the Supreme Court."

During confirmation hearings in November, Griffiths disclosed that his Washington, D.C., law license had been suspended after his firm failed to pay his bar association dues. Griffiths immediately paid the delinquent dues upon finding out.

Democrats also blasted Griffiths for practicing law without a license during the four years he was general counsel at BYU, even though the school said a license to practice law was not required for the administrative work he did there.

Hatch said Griffiths is well-qualified for the post, but he expects some Democrats may try to block the nomination because of politics.

"He's as good a nominee as we've ever had," said Hatch, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The issue isn't Tom Griffiths. The issue is he's a Republican."

Hatch said that during the last Congress, Democratic senators inappropriately filibustered to delay a vote.

Hatch said the U.S. Constitution demands an up-or-down vote by the entire Senate. Griffiths would have been confirmed by majority vote in the last session, and Hatch said he will be confirmed this time.

"It's a misperceived rule that you can filibuster, we'll have to change that," Hatch said.

During his hourlong question-and-answer speech, Hatch also touched on immigration, the war in Iraq and education.

On immigration, Hatch said he supported Bush's plan to register undocumented workers and allow them to work in the United States on a temporary basis, with the possibility of gaining permanent citizenship.

"Our country would have a difficult time running if it wasn't for the undocumented workers doing the work Americans don't want to do," he said.

On the war in Iraq, Hatch said he was pleasantly surprised with how many Iraqis voted despite security threats. To him, the turnout was evidence that the country is moving toward a representative government.

He also said that because of the Patriot Act, which he helped write, and the United States' aggressive stance toward terrorists, there hasn't been a terrorist attack in the country since 9/11.

"It's better to take it to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq than to have to do it here," he said. "This is a fight we have to win, and it appears we're winning it."

Hatch applauded UVSC for its growth and vowed to continue to push for funding for new programs at the school.

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