Specter Recommends Four Women Who Are Not Judges

Sen. Arlen Specter has given his list to President Barack Obama.

The former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said today that Obama had asked him to name some possible successors to Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. And Specter (D-Pa.) said he has complied, though in speaking with reporters he would only hint at the people he suggested.

“I submitted four names — all women, and none who owns a black robe,” Specter said after a speech to the American Law Institute at Washington's Mayflower Hotel.

He did not elaborate on whom he recommended. There are three female non-judges among those reported to be on Obama’s short list: Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Specter said he expects to be very involved in the Senate confirmation process for Obama’s choice, despite losing his seniority on the Judiciary Committee after he switched to the Democratic Party a month ago. Under the rules by which senators question a witness, Specter could be the last member of the committee to face off with the nominee.

“I didn’t have a prominent role when I questioned Judge Bork, and I was noticed. I didn’t have a prominent role when I questioned Professor Hill, and I was noticed,” Specter said, referring to his opposition to Robert Bork’s failed nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987 and his questioning of Anita Hill during the hearing for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991.

Specter’s comments to the American Law Institute focused on the expansion of executive power during the Bush administration. He said he plans to question the Supreme Court nominee about executive power, including the role of presidential signing statements and the power of Congress to compel the Supreme Court to decide an unsettled legal question.

“I think it is a fair question to ask: What cases will be heard?” he said. As one example, he said the Court could have assumed a larger role in the debate over telecommunications companies’ cooperation in intelligence gathering.

Specter added that Congress does not always have the ability on its own to stand up to a president. “We really have to have the courts arbitrate these disputes,” he said.

Comments

[Hindsight]

Posted by: Art Leonard | May 20, 2009 at 09:14 PM

Anyone that is going to be a Supreme Court Justice should have experience at being a judge.......The republicans would NEVER nominate a person without judicial experience......

Oh how soon we forget......Harriet Myers was not a judge.........

[Art Leonard]

Some of our greatest Supreme Court justices had no prior judicial experience before going on the bench. Among those are the great Chief Justice John Marshall, Louis Brandeis, Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, and Lewis Powell. And, of course, Chief Justice Earl Warren, whose experience was as a prosecutor and governor. The Supreme Court is unique, of course, in its particular role in our judicial system, and the loss of other career perspectives than the judiciary results in a narrowing of focus and a loss of touch with the real world, since judges in general tend to be isolated by their ethical responsibilities. Justice O'Connor's past experience as a legislator was very important to the court, as was Justice Powell's experience as a leader of the private bar.

[Leah D]

Anyone that is going to be a Supreme Court Justice should have experience at being a judge or at least be a U.S. Constitution scholar. This whole issue is absurd. The republicans would NEVER nominate a person without judicial experience. Obama taught constitutional law for 10 years, I have faith that he will nominate the right person for the job.

[Bob4232]

Although I have many reservations about whom might be appointed I want to express my strong feeling that it is not necessessary that a Justice have juducial experience or perhaps even be a lawyer. We need a Justice who has lived AMONG US! WE THE PEOPLE NEED SOME ONE WHO CAN READ AND APPLY THE PLAIN WORDS OF THE CONSTITUTION.

[Fred]

Dear Oscar in Miami:
Really??? If you've been paying attention for the last decade or more, Sen. Spector has always been one of the more "centrist" Republicans, following his principles rather than the likes of Rush and Cheney. Now that the Republican Party has moved even further to the right, he could not in good conscience continue to be a Republican. Rather than a "traitor" he is remaining true to his priciples (insofar as politicians have principles, of course).

[Oscar in Miami Beach]

Specter should not get involved in anything.He is a coatchanger that has absolutly no character or moral.He is the proverbial chamaleon that will go with the higher bider.Pennsyvanians should kick this disgusting individual out of the Congress and put in its place a person of honor and integrity not a traitor to his friends and colleagues.