Akkam’s Razor

Arlen "Magic Bullet" Specter announced yesterday that he was seeking reelection in 2010 for his sixth-term in the US Senate.  You might be asking yourself, "Why so early?"

It seems that Arlen is throwing up a trial balloon to see what the future holds for him.  Despite being a Dirty F'ing Liberal, I voted for him in 2004, doing the political calculus that his seat on the Judiciary Committee would keep him from confirming a fundamental zealot, and as such he deserved my vote more than Jim Hoeffel.  As a result, we got John Roberts and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.

The most recent outrage is over "AttorneyGate".  Specter is all over this one too.

For starters, at it's inception, it was someone in his office who "slipped-it-in" to the Patriot Act Reauthorization.  The language in question says the following:

Section 546 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking subsections (c) and (d) and inserting the following new subsection:

`(c) A person appointed as United States attorney under this section may serve until the qualification of a United States Attorney for such district appointed by the President under section 541 of this title. '.

What it really means is that the Executive Branch can bypass the Constitutional obligation of the Legislative Branch to advise-and-consent the Executive Branch on appointees.  This is the text the above replaced:

(c) A person appointed as United States attorney under this section may serve until the earlier of—

(1) the qualification of a United States attorney for such district appointed by the President under section 541 of this title; or

(2) the expiration of 120 days after appointment by the Attorney General under this section.

(d) If an appointment expires under subsection (c)(2), the district court for such district may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled. The order of appointment by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the court.

Yes, they do serve at "the pleasure of the President",  the real Constitutional crisis is the reappointment of their successors.  The President nominates US Attorneys, and the Senate confirms them.    Now, the picks stand indefinitely without confirmation by either the Senate or District Justices.

With the Conservatives having focused on the Justice Department for decades as a patronage mill and ideology reserve, the prospect of a hostile Congress interviewing candidates would be unnerving at best.

After the start of this year, Specter circled the wagons, as paraphrased in this parsing of the document dump on TPMM:

"just [sic] got off the phone with Matt miner [sic] on Specter's staff who called to discuss the hearing. He said we will be getting an invite shortly. Has there been further thought on the DOJ witness?

He asked for a few things……

He is organizing a republican [sic] amendment strategy so the dems don't divide and conquer. he [sic] asked if we have any amendments to please draft and get them to him. I re-sent him the talking points (as he had given his copy away) he realized we had a lot of info in there.

Despite the above reference, Specter still sits on the Judiciary Committee, as does Orin Hatch, who's former staff member (and recently appointed Utah US Attorney) Brett Tolman "slipped-in" the Patriot Act Provision. 

Publicly, Specter says the following: 

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the committee, said he had a long talk with Fielding on Friday and was reserving judgment. Specter said he would like to see Rove and Miers testify openly.

"I want to see exactly what the White House response is," Specter said. "Maybe the White House will come back and say, 'We'll permit them to be interviewed and we'll give them all the records.'"

Specter is also in an enviable position here, as the local US Attorney, Pat Meehan, was both his (1992) and Rick Santorum's (1994) campaign managers, having gotten the job with no law enforcement experience. 

Uploaded on January 31, 2007 by EAWB

Specter has talked tough on many issues, only to cave the second the White House or "the base" puts any pressure on him.  Examine the following (paraphrased from Firedoglake):

He states he won't vote to confirm anyonewho weakens Roe v. Wade, then he votes in the affirmative for Roberts and Alito.

He publicly declares the Military Commissions Act of 2006 unconstitutional, then votes for it 24-hours later.

He rails against Bush's Domestic Spying Program, then crafts an ammendment giving them retroactive prosecutorial immunity for the conduct of it.

He promises to restore habeas corpus, then votes against it. 

I have zero faith in him as a moderate-Republican,  just as the Conservatives have no faith in him as a RINO (Republican-in-Name-Only).  He's pulling a Lieberman, being an attention whore (again).

Being as my district, although Republican-leaning in registrations, has returned Democratic Presidential winners in the last 12-years, I've had no dogs in this hunt.  Thanks to Arlen, now I do.

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