i was going to ask some questions of mr. boggs. i know, mr. boggs, you were a judge for how long? >> ten years. >> obviously there's a lot of understandable questions about the positions that he took as a candidate and in the legislature on joyce and civil rights and marriage equality. did you rule on any of those cases when you were a judge? cases involving those issues. >> as a tall court judge in georgia's highest level of trial courts, i didn't have jurisdiction to rule on constitutional questions if that's your question. as a judge on eating meat appellate court in georgia for the last two and half years with limited constitutional jurisdiction, specifically only deal with the constitution as applied and what it was applied in an unconstitutional fashion. jurisdiction in constitutional cases by side with our superior supreme court. >> could you talk about your judicial philosophy, how your personal views have shaped that philosophy? >> i don't know my personal views have shaped my philosophy. my experiential views as having been a judge for 10 years has shaped my philosophy.

else saying he supported the nomination, has that coalesced congressman lewis and those who oppose mr. boggsnomination. >> well, i think john had to make his position clear. that it was not only feinstein who was confused. but congressman koth was confused and a number of other people. as a matter of fact, we were considering calling a press conference yesterday. a number of people, members of congress and other civil rights lewders asking which side are you on? and in the words about the civil rights chant. but thank god he's come out and all's well that end well. >> yeah. i had a chance to speak with the u.s. senate candidate michelle nunn from georgia. i want you to hear what she had to say about the boggs nomination. >> when i look at this particular nomination, i have some concerns. i share some of the concerns that have been raised. if i were in the senate, i'd want to sit down and talk with him and make sure i understand what his views were. and what i would need. i do share the concerns that have been raised. >> sir, do you believe the that the boggs nomination should be an issue in

mr. boggs nomination was part of a deal with a georgia republican senator to allow all judicial nominees from their state to get a hearing. >> [indiscernible] please be seated, and i invite each of you to provide an opening statement. you, chairman blumenthal, senator durbin, and senator franken. thank you for being here for calling this hearing and from hearing from us today. i would like to thank president obama for this nomination and for the faith he has put in me. now i would like to recognize several people here with me, both family and friends. first, two people who are simply the best thing that has ever happened to me and who have parent-teacher conference, a recital, or anything that has been important were seatedarents right behind me. both ordained elders in united methodist church. also with me is one of my college roommates from brown university, tiffany thompson, and her mother, assist thompson, why refer to as my fairy godmother. and studybest friends group members from yale law

mr. chairman. i do have some questions for judge boggs. i know that mainly -- the rest of you should feel good about that. that is what i am saying. you should feel very happy about that. judge boggs, i had the opportunity to meet you a couple of weeks ago. i enjoyed that meeting. i believe that judges can decide things by, you know, in the proper way even if they have had a record before of votes when they are in the legislature that are contrary to constitutional -- what has been decided constitutionally. i don't want a situation where we cannot ever have people confirmed because they had some public record on something. i think that is a bad tendency. that is a bad tendency to do that. so, i think that -- because a judge's role is to make decisions based on what the law is. not take their personal opinions, although, personal opinions or experience do shape how a judge invariably has to. experience is the law in many ways for judges. i think it is important we have to factor that in but we cannot establish a system here where just looki

i was going to ask some questions to mr. boggs. i know you were a judge for how long? >> 10 years now. >> obviously, there is a lot of understandable questions about the positions that you took as a candidate and in the legislature on choice and civil rights and marriage equality. did you rule in any those cases when you were a judge? cases involving those issues? >> as a trial court judge in georgia's highest level of trial court, didn't have jurisdiction to rule on constitutional questions. as a judge in the intermediate appellate court for the last two and half years, we of limited constitutional jurisdiction specifically we only deal with constitution is applied and whether it was applied in an unconstitutional fashion. jurisdiction and confidential cases present with the supreme court. >> can you talk about your overall judicial philosophy? how your personal views have shaped that philosophy? >> i don't know if my personal ew

mr. chairman. i do have some questions for judge boggs. i know that mainly -- the rest of you should feel good about that. that is what i am saying. you should feel very happy about that. judge boggs, i had the opportunity to meet you a couple of weeks ago. i enjoyed that meeting. i believe that judges can decide things by, you know, in the proper way even if they have had a record before of votes when they are in the legislature that are contrary to constitutional -- what has been decided constitutionally. i don't want a situation where we cannot ever have people confirmed because they had some public record on something. i think that is a bad tendency. that is a bad tendency to do that. so, i think that -- because a judge's role is to make decisions based on what the law is. not take their personal opinions, although, personal opinions or experience do shape how a judge invariably has to. experience is the law in many ways for judges. i think it is important we have to factor that in but we cannot establish a system here where just looki