Specter to personally re-examine Alito and Roberts

[cynatnite]

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) plans to review the Senate testimony of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel A. Alito to determine if their reversal of several long-standing opinions conflicts with promises they made to senators to win confirmation.

Specter, who championed their confirmation, said Tuesday he will personally re-examine the testimony to see if their actions in court match what they told the Senate.

"There are things he has said, and I want to see how well he has complied with it," Specter said, singling out Roberts.

The Specter inquiry poses a potential political problem for the GOP and future nominees because Democrats are increasingly complaining that the Supreme Court moved quicker and more dramatically than advertised to overturn or chip away at prior decisions.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/5099.html

[Virginia Dare]

1. I'll save you the time Arlen..

they lied to your sorry face. You got hosed, buddy, live with it.

[VP505]

11. More accurately

Senator SmokeScreen Specter will say "I don't see any contradiction here, nothing at all, move along, Alito and Roberts are two of the finest Judges the Supreme Court has ever had"

[AndyA]

Be sure to wear gloves when you do the prostate exam.

They're full of it. But you already know that, don't you, Arlen?

[AndyA]

2. Dupe.

No idea how it happened, sorry... :o

[KharmaTrain]

3. More Gas From Senator Sphincter Of Scotland

So what can be done about this mess, Arlen...you ramroded his confirmation through and rushed the testimony. Me think he protests too much.

[G_j]

4. way, way late

but this is desperately needed, that is for sure!

[asjr]

5. Arlen Specter is all blow and no go!

[Jackpine Radical]

6. So, bottom line--could they be impeached & removed for having lied their way in?

(I think the answer is yes, if Congress has the will to do it.)

[global1]

7. What Can He Do If In His Re-Exam He Finds They Misled or Lied To Him?......

Is this just for show or can something be done?

[ThomWV]

9. Not a damned thing - and there shouldn't be a damned thing he can do either

Look, we get one bite at the apple when selecting and approving a Judge for the Court. The two of them (and think about how clse Miers got as well) should have been stopped on the Senate floor, and could have been, but we did nothing.

[Junkdrawer]

10. In theory, theres's...wait for it....Impeachment...

:rofl:

[Virginia Dare]

13. If Arlen suggests Impeachment..

which I highly doubt he will, I actually hope the Dems block it. What a sorry POS he is.

[ThomWV]

16. Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!

[mzteris]

19. Impeach their sorry @sses.

At the Federal level, the House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching the President, Vice President and all other civil officers of the United States. Officials can be impeached for: "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." The United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. The removal of impeached officials is automatic upon conviction in the Senate.

The Constitution provides that Justices "shall hold their Offices during good Behavior" (unless appointed during a Senate recess). The term "good behavior" is interpreted to mean that the Justices may serve for the remainder of their lives, although this is not compulsory as they may resign or retire voluntarily. A Justice may also be removed by impeachment and conviction by congressional vote,



Personally - I'd almost rather see THEM impeached than bush/cheney. We KNOW we're getting rid of them two, but the others? Stuck for life if not.

[DCKit]

8. I'm at a loss here....

Since when is there an expectation that the Supremes are under any obligation to vote the way Congress wants them to? Yeah, they were picked by GW, so they lied, but take some responsibility for your own actions Arlen.

[havocmom]

15. Arlen didn't pay enough attention to them when they were up for confirmation

Now, on somebody else's watch, he is all eyes and ears? Now he pays attention? Yep, Arlen needs to take responsibility for what HE did or didn't do when the GOP ran Congress and these liars were confirmed.

What a wanker.

[Bitwit1234]

12. Unless they can prove prejury of something to impeach them with

they'll stay for life.

[EVDebs]

14. These two bozos rubberstamped exec orders under Reagan re martial law

giving Reagan era REX84, and the other executive orders instituting martial law the 'green light'. A list of the exec orders is at

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/FEMA-Concentration-Camps3sep04.htm

ICE, not FEMA, is now the enforcer of these orders, which will come about under WTO-protests-in-Seattle-like roundups of dissenters . Everybody else will simply be rounded up door-to-door.

Roberts was Associate Counsel to Reagan from '82-'86:

"From 1982 until 1986, Chief Justice Roberts served in the White House as Associate Counsel to President Ronald Reagan.

* His duties in the White House included reviewing bills submitted to the President by the Congress, drafting and reviewing Executive Orders, and generally reviewing the full range of presidential activities for legal problems."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/judicialnominees/roberts.html


Alito as Asst to Solicitor Gen. '81-'85, Dep. Asst. Attny. General DOJ '85-'87:

" From 1981 to 1985, he served as Assistant to the Solicitor General. He has argued 12 cases on behalf of the federal government in the U.S. Supreme Court and he has argued at least two dozen others before the federal courts of appeals.
From 1985 to 1987, Justice Alito served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, where he provided constitutional advice for the Executive Branch."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/judicialnominees/alito.html

One must ask why Congress didn't investigate this fascistic agenda PRIOR to confirmation. However, if impeachment is needed to remove this pair of bad apples, then so be it. Or maybe they could see the light and permanently recuse themselves...and resign with honor, which will be stripped from them if their plan is exposed.

[NV Whino]

17. Too little

and waaaaaay too late, Arlen.

[Marr]

18. What's interesting about this is what it suggests Specter is anticipating.

He's always covering his political ass. Sounds like Arlen is expecting some very unpopular Supreme Court moves. Probably to do with protecting GW Bush.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Fuck you, Arlen

This is what you ALWAYS do.

You're a stupid fucking water boy for the cabal.

Bite me, asshole.

[salinen]

23. and fuck his horse too.

POS Specter.

[shraby]

21. Actually congress does have an alternative to

impeachment of the supremes...they can add a couple of members in order to balance the sheet.

[autorank]

22. Specter is fascinating to watch. This could be very significant or..

...it could just be Specter.

Specter was a counsel for the Warren Commission, at a very young age. He knows how the
system works, he's confronted it in his own life, and he has a lot of freedom.

Sometimes he's just odd, like the "Scottish" vote on impeachment. I'm sure he found that,
it made sense to him, and that's what we heard.

However, this is very concrete. He was, after all, the guy who "Borked" Bork. He didn't
want liars on the court. He vouched for these two. And we all know that they lied about
not turning over the apple cart of established precedent.

Well they did, which is bad if your Arlen because that's not the outcome you wanted.

But it's really bad if your Alito and Roberts if, as I suspect, they lied to him. They probably
thought, "Hey, he' one of us so we'll just wink and nod." Well he isn't one of any group
except a very small religious order in Pennsylvania which he keeps separate entirely from his
public life.

The outcome of the will be interesting to watch. If Specter thinks these guys rolled him, they
are in for real trouble. If it's just Specter being odd, which I doubt, then this will wither
and die on the vine.

[glitch]

24. Interesting. I just assumed he anticipated trouble for them and was running pre-emptive cover.

Your's is a different angle which I did not consider, one where Specter actually has some kind of personal integrity and isn't simply following orders. Interesting, I guess we'll see.

[KAT119]

25. Fox in chicken coop

[BlooInBloo]

26. Another round of the Specter Two-step - complete with DUers falling for it.