Support Specter against the Right

So much for the healing.

Recently re-elected Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter was a shoo-in for chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, until he made some politically ill-advised remarks last Wednesday. While what he said was simply a statement of fact, that the Senate was unlikely to confirm a Supreme Court candidate who would overturn Roe v. Wade, it set off a cacophony of protest from the Right. As abortion rights issues are extremely important to college students, we have a vested interest in whether or not Specter gets this post.

By seniority, expertise and expectation, the chairmanship should go to Specter. Specter's moderate leanings in general, and his abortion rights stance in particular, enhance his qualifications for the Judiciary Committee chairmanship. His willingness not to unthinkingly toe the party line is a necessary quality for the head of the Judiciary Committee. Particularly because judges should be selected as non-partisan constitutional and legal interpreters, a senator looking to moderation instead of party rhetoric will best lead their selection.

Yet, Christian fundamentalists and Republican extremists have started campaigns through Web sites like www.notspecter.com to protest the Pennsylvania senator. Other senators have received thousands of phone calls and faxes a day railing against Specter, largely complaining that he won't rubber-stamp President Bush's agenda.

In making these phone calls and sending these faxes, members of the Christian Right are working overtime to make their voice heard. We should as well.

Sticking up for Specter is not just something you should do if you favor abortion rights. It's about respecting the process. If the chairman position is instead handed to a more conservative senator, it is not unreasonable to conclude that less qualified and more partisan judges will be placed on federal benches throughout the country and even the Supreme Court.

Conservatives, having long accused liberals of applying a "litmus test" for abortion to Supreme Court nominees, are now doing just that in trying to stifle Specter. Call, e-mail or fax Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, along with your own state senators, and tell them it isn't right (contact information is available at www.senate.gov). It will be much easier for the Senate to give in to pressure from the extreme Right if others remain silent. And it would be a shame if a qualified and competent politician like Specter was denied this post because of Right-wing lambasting.

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