Word: specter
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Making the telephone call was something Senator Arlen Specter had dreaded but felt compelled to do. After Specter imparted his bad news to Robert Bork last week, the judge simply said, "Senator, I'm very disappointed." Replied the Pennsylvania Republican: "I wanted to be the one to tell...
...short time later, Specter took the Senate floor and announced his intention to vote against Bork's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. "I believe there is substantial doubt as to how he would apply fundamental principles of constitutional law," said Specter. Until the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded its twelve days of confirmation hearings last Wednesday, Specter was the only undecided Republican on the 14-member panel. His defection virtually guaranteed an anti-Bork majority when the committee votes on the nomination this week...
...Specter's decision was a turning point in a grim week for Ronald Reagan's controversial nominee. The same day the Pennsylvanian joined the small band of moderate Republicans who are against Bork, a trio of Southern Democrats, including Louisiana's influential conservative J. Bennett Johnston, said they too would oppose the judge when his nomination comes to a vote. With the Democrats holding a 54-to-46 majority in the Senate, the President had been relying on Southern crossover votes to give his man the 51 yeas he will need for confirmation. Making matters worse for the White House...
Last week Specter, Johnston and several other Senators cited Bork's flip- flops as a major reason for their opposition. "Here is a brilliant scholar going through the agony of public hearings and public scrutiny," said Democrat David Pryor of Arkansas, as he announced his intention to vote against Bork. "And yet we don't know him any better now than we did months ago. I would even submit . . . that he does not know himself...
...committee vote fell roughly along party lines, with Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania the only Republican to join eight Democrats in recommending rejection of Bork's nomination. The committee's five other Republicans were. on Bork's side...