http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/07/...s.ap/index.html
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Specter says he won't slow anti-abortion court nominees
Sunday, November 7, 2004 Posted: 1:29 PM EST (1829 GMT)
Sen. Arlen Specter, who got campaign help from President Bush, has pledged not to block anti-abortion court nominees.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican in line to head the Senate Judiciary Committee pledged Sunday not to stall the president's judicial nominees even if they oppose abortion rights. The White House expressed confidence its choices would get a fair hearing.
Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate from Pennsylvania who backs abortion rights, said he has supported judicial nominees in the past who do not agree with the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
"The fact is that I have supported all of President Bush's nominees in committee and on the floor. I have never applied a litmus test," Specter told CBS' "Face the Nation."
He added: "Although I am pro-choice, I have supported many pro-life nominees."
The White House expressed confidence that Bush's judicial candidates will get a fair shake in the Senate, despite comments Specter made last week that anti-abortion judges were unlikely to be confirmed by the newly elected Senate.
Chief political adviser Karl Rove said Specter has assured the president that he would make certain all of Bush's nominees receive a prompt hearing and an up-or-down vote by the full Senate.
"Senator Specter's a man of his word. We'll take him at his word," Rove said on "Fox News Sunday."
Last week, Specter told reporters that "judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade," probably would face problems in the Senate.
Specter said Bush has had trouble getting some of his nominees confirmed because of Democratic filibusters. He added: "I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning."
Filibusters, a bill-killing tactic of unlimited debate, remain possible in the Senate elected last week because the Republicans' 55-45 majority falls five votes short of the 60 needed to cut off debate.
Specter's comments on the question came a day after he won re-election in Pennsylvania following a tight GOP primary in which the president endorsed him. The remarks outraged conservative groups such as Concerned Women for America, which sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urging him to prevent Specter from presiding over the committee.
Specter backtracked the next day, saying he wasn't warning Bush not to make those kinds of choices. What he meant, he said, was that "in light of the repeated filibusters by the Democrats in the last Senate session, I am concerned about a potential repetition of such filibusters."
With Chief Justice William Rehnquist ailing from thyroid cancer, there has been much speculation about whether the president soon may choose a new Supreme Court justice. As head of the Judiciary Committee, Specter would have wide latitude to schedule hearings, stage committee votes and make the process as easy or as hard as he wants.
During Bush's first term, Democrats blocked 10 of his judicial nominees to U.S. Appeals Courts, the nation's second-highest courts. At the same time, the Senate confirmed 203 of Bush's court appointments.
Sunday, November 7, 2004 Posted: 1:29 PM EST (1829 GMT)
Sen. Arlen Specter, who got campaign help from President Bush, has pledged not to block anti-abortion court nominees.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican in line to head the Senate Judiciary Committee pledged Sunday not to stall the president's judicial nominees even if they oppose abortion rights. The White House expressed confidence its choices would get a fair hearing.
Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate from Pennsylvania who backs abortion rights, said he has supported judicial nominees in the past who do not agree with the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
"The fact is that I have supported all of President Bush's nominees in committee and on the floor. I have never applied a litmus test," Specter told CBS' "Face the Nation."
He added: "Although I am pro-choice, I have supported many pro-life nominees."
The White House expressed confidence that Bush's judicial candidates will get a fair shake in the Senate, despite comments Specter made last week that anti-abortion judges were unlikely to be confirmed by the newly elected Senate.
Chief political adviser Karl Rove said Specter has assured the president that he would make certain all of Bush's nominees receive a prompt hearing and an up-or-down vote by the full Senate.
"Senator Specter's a man of his word. We'll take him at his word," Rove said on "Fox News Sunday."
Last week, Specter told reporters that "judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade," probably would face problems in the Senate.
Specter said Bush has had trouble getting some of his nominees confirmed because of Democratic filibusters. He added: "I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning."
Filibusters, a bill-killing tactic of unlimited debate, remain possible in the Senate elected last week because the Republicans' 55-45 majority falls five votes short of the 60 needed to cut off debate.
Specter's comments on the question came a day after he won re-election in Pennsylvania following a tight GOP primary in which the president endorsed him. The remarks outraged conservative groups such as Concerned Women for America, which sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urging him to prevent Specter from presiding over the committee.
Specter backtracked the next day, saying he wasn't warning Bush not to make those kinds of choices. What he meant, he said, was that "in light of the repeated filibusters by the Democrats in the last Senate session, I am concerned about a potential repetition of such filibusters."
With Chief Justice William Rehnquist ailing from thyroid cancer, there has been much speculation about whether the president soon may choose a new Supreme Court justice. As head of the Judiciary Committee, Specter would have wide latitude to schedule hearings, stage committee votes and make the process as easy or as hard as he wants.
During Bush's first term, Democrats blocked 10 of his judicial nominees to U.S. Appeals Courts, the nation's second-highest courts. At the same time, the Senate confirmed 203 of Bush's court appointments.
