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By Irishlaw Posted in Judiciary Committee — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The Hill looks at the current Specter flaps, and shows that while at least the senator's staffers are on the defensive, conservative alarm isn't fazing him personally:

A GOP committee aide defended Specter’s desire not to take up immediately the nominees whom Democrats stopped in the last Congress as an effort to heal raw relationships on the committee.

“Senator Specter looks to accomplish a lot this session and tone down the hostile atmosphere that existed, not only in the committee, and have a well-founded relationship with the White House,” said the aide.

I really just don't get this. Why were there "raw relationships" in the first place? Because the committee Democrats were blocking and otherwise acting hostile without any good reason toward qualified, professional nominees like Estrada, Owen, Pryor and Pickering. Putting liberal NAACP lawyers on staff isn't going to "tone down the hostile atmosphere"; for the Dems, the only "compromise" position would be not to renominate these candidates at all. Assuming we aren't interested in such a compromise, Specter would do better to go ahead and hire conservative, Republican staffers for his Republican-controlled committee, and focus more carefully on that relationship with the White House instead of with Leahy et al.

I was willing to give Specter the benefit of a doubt after I thought he was appropriately chastened by the conservative campaign against his chairmanship in the fall. It's not now looking much like that was warranted. The best thing he could do now to start salvaging things is not to insist on new committee hearings for the filibustered judges.