The White House and GOP leaders backed Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) when he faced an extremely tough primary challenge this year, but Specter, to his enormous credit, isn’t about to return the favor by allowing Bush to radically reshape the federal judiciary.
Invigorated by a decisive win and the prospect of assuming a more prominent role in the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter cautioned President Bush yesterday not to interpret his own victory as a clear mandate, and urged him to respond to the Republican Party’s more moderate wing.
Specter, as presumptive chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that he would block any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court who opposed abortion rights. Reiterating his position that a woman’s right to choose is “inviolate,” he said overturning Roe v. Wade today would be akin to trying to reverse Brown v. Board of Education, the court’s 1954 landmark desegregation decision.
Barring unforeseen GOP objections, Specter, 74, should assume the committee chairmanship in January. He also sent an unsubtle message to the White House that he expects nominees for the federal bench to be of the highest caliber, and took a critical swipe at the stature of the current court.
This took enormous courage on Specter’s part, but I can’t help but wonder how it will jeopardize his future.
The White House is still getting over its champagne hangover, the right-wing base is already drawing up a list of lunatics for the federal bench, and one of the few remaining Republican moderates steps forward to rain on their parade — the very day the election ends.
The Republicans are still five seats short of a filibuster-proof majority, but further manipulation of the federal judiciary remains a top party priority. The fact that the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is already indicating that he’ll be siding with the Dems when it comes to far-right judges has to give the GOP pause.
Will Specter’s comments cost him his chairmanship? I wouldn’t be surprised. The far right will dominate the GOP and the congressional agenda at least until 2006. Some of the same groups that will be calling the shots behind the scenes are the ones who backed Specter’s primary opponent a few months ago. I suspect Karl Rove is calling Specter this morning, telling him that if he won’t be a “team player,” he’ll pick someone else to be chairman.
Stay tuned.