WASHINGTON, November 19, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Arlen Specter has been unanimously endorsed for the Chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee after making a statement in which he promised to remain impartial. For the two weeks since the election, pro-life and family groups have engaged in an all out campaign to stop Specter from getting the job that would allow him to block social conservative, non-activist judiciary nominees.
As soon as the magnitude of the opposition was clear, Specter started a campaign of his own on over 30 television appearances and, where it counts most, among friends in the GOP. The Chairmanship has a six-year term and Specter’s appointment will outlast the duration of the President’s term of office. Specter, in his one-page, carefully worded statement, pledged hearings and prompt votes on presidential nominees and promised to try to curtail Democratic filibusters against judicial choices. Senator Orrin Hatch, whose place Specter will be taking as Chairman, spoke at a news conference yesterday saying that the committee was satisfied with Specter’s assurances. “We’re happy with the statement that Arlen has made,” said Hatch. “We’re happy with Arlen Specter and his commitment. And we’re happy with his service. He’s been supporting the president’s judges.”
Concerned Women for America (CWA) said that Specter’s statement said nothing new or different from what he said since November 3. Jan La Rue, CWA’s chief counsel said that Specter has retracted none of his previous pro-abortion commitments. “He’s scrambled to ‘clarify’ the statement that got him in all the trouble,” La Rue said. Specter said he felt no pressure to change any position. “There’s nothing that I have said here today that I haven’t repeated often in prior statements in the course of the past two weeks and many years before,” he said. At the same time, the Democratic National Convention has sent an e-mail to its members pledging to fight against Supreme Court nominees who are pro-life. The e-mail said, “The Democratic Party will not stand by and let President Bush use the Supreme Court to placate the most extreme members of his party,” the DNC opined. “We will fight for a nominee who will protect the rights and values we hold dear, and you will be a crucial part of that fight.” This news came a day after NARAL Pro-Choice America announced that they would be launching a media campaign to ensure that no pro-life judicial nominees threaten the hold on the court that they have enjoyed for decades thanks to previous appointments of liberal, activist judges.
Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage of Specter uproar: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/nov/04111101.html https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/nov/04111501.html Talon News https://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/november/1119_dnc_fight_court.shtml hw