As Wendy Long discussed earlier today, an article in Politico states that Senator Specter plans to review the Senate testimony of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito to see (in the words of the reporter) “if their actions in court match what they told the Senate.” Like Wendy, I’m confident that Specter will be satisfied by his review. Further, I’m pleased to report that Specter’s staff has passed along a statement from him minimizing the implications of his “hurried and off the cuff” remarks to the Politico reporter. In particular, Specter states that “I went the extra mile to get Roberts and Alito confirmed, and I stand by that”; that “I did not mean to imply that either Roberts or Alito were disingenuous when they appeared before the committee”; and “the real criticism was Breyer’s, not mine.”
It’s clear that Specter’s real interest is in thinking about how the hearing process can be made more enlightening.