Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter

In 1964, a Prosecutor from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania went before the Warren Commission with a peculiar theory about Former President, John F. Kennedy's assassination. He claimed that only one gunman shot at and hit Former President Kennedy and the Texas Governor, John Connelly.¹ This was just the beginning of a very long career in the national spotlight for Senator Arlen Specter. This paper will cover a brief history of the Republican Senator's life and career. It will touch on his electoral history, his beliefs, his religion, and his voting record. Finally, this paper will focus on an issue, which has haunted his career from the start: the judiciary.

Senator Arlen Specter was not always a senator, although with how long he has been in office, some might want to think so. He started his career rather modestly as an Assistant District Attorney for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he held this position from 1959-1963.² Senator Specter then waited a while after his stint with the Warren Commission. He then changed his political party affiliation from Democrat to Republican before running for and being elected as the District Attorney for Philadelphia; a position he held from 1966 to 1973³. For what remained of the 1970s, the current senator ran for and lost several elections. He tried for and lost the positions of District Attorney - Philadelphia, Senator - Pennsylvania, and Governor - Pennsylvania.⁴ "Pennsylvania's senior U.S. Senator was finally elected to the Senate in 1980 and is currently serving his fifth term."⁵ As of two years ago, he has served longer than any other Senator has in Pennsylvania State history.⁶

Senior Senator Arlen Specter is known to have very strong beliefs in all the areas, where he asserts himself. He is pro-choice, to the extent that people believed that he would not allow Justice Samuel A. Alito to be placed on the Supreme Court because of Alito's anti-abortion viewpoint.⁷ According to his biography, his belief in the military and its veterans are shown through his work as the Chairman of the Veterans Committee, and although he no longer holds that position, he still strongly believes in the rights that the committee protects.⁸ He is also a strong believer in education. "Under his leadership, funding for education has increased by more than 130%."⁹ He holds strongly to his belief to the extent that he will vote outside of party lines to get what he wants, if he has to.

The son of "Jewish immigrants from Czarist Russia," Senator Specter is a proud Jewish man.¹⁰ Even though his religion does not always agree with some of his views on abortion and the like, Senator Specter shows his support for his faith by attending functions like the Jewish Leadership Summit held by the Republican Representative from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum on July 18, 2006.¹¹

Senator Arlen Specter's voting history is a little more complex than most senators are. Having started his career as a Democrat and later changing to the Republican Party to suit the constituents of Philadelphia, Senator Specter has a history of playing for whatever side will have him.¹² He has voted against party lines six times in the last month and 35 times since this session of congress started in November 2006.¹³ Although it is seen as alright for a senator to vote outside party lines occasionally, Arlen Specter seems to do so with a regularity that begs the question, which side is he on? Recently, he has been labeled a moderate because he does not vote for (or against) his party, in his eyes, but for his beliefs.¹⁴ This has led to tensions among all members of the Senate, where he is concerned. According to the Biography Resource Center, "He included funds in the 2000 education spending bill for school repairs and smaller class sizes--two Clinton proposals--but with the hitch that the money be given to the states, thereby maintaining the core Republican ideal that local and state--and not federal--governments should see to the education of their children."¹⁵ This is just one example of many cases in which the Senator has a tendency to ride the fence in the political arena. One can see from this that his voting record is very complex to say the least.

To say that this venerable old man is determined, when it comes to his career, is probably an understatement. One of the places this persistence is most noticeable is in his work involving the courts. Senator Arlen Specter is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was a part of the hearings for several current and former Supreme Court justices. These justices include: Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel A. Alito, and John G. Roberts.¹⁶ From here, this paper will focus on Senator Specter's role in the denial of confirmation for Robert Bork, and the confirmations of Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts.

Robert Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1987 when Justice Lewis Powell retired.¹⁷ According to Richard Hodder-Williams, Justice Bork should have been confirmed without debate for several reasons including the fact that his "nomination to a seat on the Court of Appeals for the DC circuit had been unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 1982."¹⁸ Apparently, those, who did not want Bork to sit on the Supreme Court, spread rumors that he would remove all the civil rights decisions that had been made during the 1960s and 1970s. In a somewhat surprising move, Senators Arlen Specter and Bennett Johnson were the first to reject Justice Bork's nomination.¹⁹ Ann Coulter stated in 2004 that "Specter pretended to weigh the attacks on Bork thoughtfully and after careful consideration announced he would vote against Bork."²⁰ This just proves that even two decades later, this decision still haunts him.

Another controversial decision Arlen Specter made toward the Supreme Court was the agreement to place Justice Clarence Thomas on the bench in 1991. Justice Thomas was rumored to have sexually harassed Anita Hill, a women with whom he worked during his career.²¹ Senator Specter was quoted as having stated before the beginning of the interview with Ms. Hill, "'I do not regard this as an adversary proceeding.'"²² Yet throughout the hearing, he was anything but amenable to Anita Hill's potential plight. His questioning of Ms. Hill was full of attacks on her credibility, which outraged his constituents.²³ This particular issue led to the confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, but the question still remains to this day: Was he confirmed because he was right for the job or was he confirmed by Specter because he was trying to apologize to all his female constituents for his behavior in these hearings? Again, Ann Coulter had two cents to add saying that Senator Specter only put Thomas on the bench, because he "was up for re-election."²⁴ Whether he did it to apologize or purely to get re-elected, this was just another scandal in the many scandals that make up Arlen Specter.

Quite recently, two justices were replaced on the Supreme Court. They were Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Senator Arlen Specter was involved in the confirmation of both successive justices. John G. Roberts replaced William Rehnquist and Samuel A. Alito replaced Sandra Day O'Connor. One confirmation went well and the other was rather painful for the nominee. Here is a closer look.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 29, 2005, by a margin of 78-22.²⁵ It seems obvious from this margin that this was the Justice mentioned above, who had relatively little problem being confirmed. Senator Arlen Specter commented that "Roberts had 'a really remarkable headstart," and that his ease into the position was due to his ability to "[disarm] his critics."²⁶ This was one of Specter's less painful experiences with the Supreme Court.

One of his more painful experiences came with the nomination of Justice Samuel A. Alito. According to one critic, Specter "traded in his record as a prochoice [sic] moderate to preserve his prerogatives as Judiciary chairman."²⁷ Justice Alito had a history of anti-abortion views that dogged his hearings. Among those questioning him, the hardest was Arlen Specter, who has long held the Democratic ideal that a woman should have the right to do with her body what she will. Senator Specter even goes on to say, during the debate on whether or not to confirm Alito, that he was rather tenacious in his pursuit of Justice Alito's answers.²⁸ Despite his opposition to Alito's views, Senator Specter did something very unlike himself during those debates. He actually listened to what a justice said and applied it to his decision. He said, "Judge Alito came under very extensive questioning on the issue of a woman's right to choose because of his work on a brief on the Thornburgh [v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (1986)] case, where he advocated no reversal of Roe v. Wade [1973] but cutting back on some of the provisions.... Judge Alito testified at length that he has an open mind on this subject."²⁹ Maybe he is becoming tame in his old age.

All in all, one can see that Senior Senator Arlen Specter from the state of Pennsylvania is a rather confounding fellow. He is a Republican, who does not vote along party lines unless the spirit moves him to do so. At the same time, he is not voting to side with the opposition, since more often than not he does what he can to thwart the Democrats. One could say that he is a party and a power unto himself and woe is he who stands in his way.

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