Surprise Irony, Senate Democrats: Specter Defection Could Hurt Souter Replacement Nominee

Cornell Professor William Jacobsen makes an important point: “Arlen Specter switching may have given Republicans a trump card to block an unacceptable replacement” for SCOTUS’s Souter: “ironically, Specter’s defection may give Republicans the ability to filibuster judicial nominees at the Judiciary Committee level, so the nominees never get out of committee.”