Specter rips Court's power grab

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) on Monday accused the Supreme Court of a constitutional power grab.

In a nearly hour-long floor speech, Specter said the court had ignored congressional will and ceded federal power to the presidency.

The outgoing senator, defeated in a Democratic primary last month, criticized Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito by name, saying both had paid “lip service” to Congress during their confirmation hearings.

Specter also urged his committee colleagues to take an especially sharp look at Solicitor General Elena Kagan, whose confirmation hearings for the Court begin next Monday. Otherwise, he said Congress risks seeing its power “being diluted.”

“You have justices in confirmation hearings committing to respecting and being deferential to congressional findings, but when the decision comes, 100 years of precedents are overturned. You don't have a modest decision. You have a decision which jolts the system.”

Specter referenced “a series of cases” where power had been shifted principally to the court, and secondarily to the executive branch.

“The Supreme Court of the United States is materially changing the traditional separation of powers, and as a result, the Congress of the United States continues to lose very substantial power in the federal scheme,” Specter said.

He said he had repeatedly raised the issue over the past 20 years, and that the “only opportunity we have to influence the process is through the confirmation of Supreme Court justices.”

Specter said justices have “substituted” their judgment for Congress’s by ignoring congressional determinations that condemned violence against women and rights for the disabled. Roberts and Alito — both appointees of former President George W. Bush — had used “all the right language” during their confirmation hearings but then ignored Congress once they were seated.

Specter also pointed to the recent “Citizens United” case, criticizing the Court for striking down parts of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law by eliminating certain restrictions on campaign spending by corporations and unions. The court found those restrictions violated the First Amendment.

“Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito used all the right language, but when we found the application of the language, they have done a reverse course,” Specter said. 

“I do not challenge the good faith of Chief Justice Roberts or Justice Alito. ... But when we take a look at what happened in Citizens United. ... We have the enormous record which was created by the Congress in enacting McCain-Feingold, and the findings of fact there to support what the Congress did, which was invalidated by the Supreme Court of the United States, which upset 100 years of precedent in allowing corporations to engage in political advertising.”

Specter headed the Judiciary Committee from 2005 to 2007, and remains an influential figure on Supreme Court issues.

He has long advocated for the introduction of video cameras into the chambers, and spoke out on numerous judicial issues during Bush’s presidency. He was a visible critic of Bush's domestic surveillance program, and nearly lost his chairmanship after claims by conservative leaders that he was not deferential enough to Bush's nominees.

---