A Specter Haunts the Senate

Sen. Arlen Specter has made a not so thinly-veiled threat to the White House: don't mess with Roe on my watch.

"When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely," Specter said, referring to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

"The president is well aware of what happened, when a bunch of his nominees were sent up, with the filibuster," Specter added, referring to Senate Democrats' success over the past four years in blocking the confirmation of many of Bush's conservative judicial picks. "... And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning."

So who the senator like to see on the bench?

"I would look for justices who would interpret the Constitution, as Cardozo has said, reflecting the values of the people."

So he wants justices that obey the whim and fads of the day rather than follow intellectually rigorous and principled constitutional analysis. How bold, what leadership.

Arlen Specter should not chair the Senate Judiciary Committee. If he does, the recent politicization of the Court will only get worse. We need legal scholars, not weathervanes that point with the popular mood.

Justice Scalia (a wonderful justice respected by all sides because of his rigorous analysis of constitutional issues and amazingly rational opinions and dissents) explains the issue.