Specter’s fate could be decided today

WASHINGTON — Sen. Arlen Specter’s quest to head the potent Senate Judiciary Committee could be decided as soon as today when senators reconvene in the nation’s capital.

As a result of some ill-timed and provocative post-election comments on abortion, the fate of the Pennsylvania Republican has been in limbo for nearly two weeks.

Specter is hoping to use a private meeting with his fellow GOP committee members to conclude a campaign of contrition unlike anything in his 24-year Senate career.

The discussions will go on as Christian anti-abortion groups hold a “pray-in” on Capitol Hill to press their case that Specter should be denied the powerful post.

A morning meeting will involve committee members only, while a second session will include the Senate leadership, said staff members for the Senate Judiciary who asked that their names not be used.

“I expect that whatever differences there are on judicial nominees will be resolved during those meetings,” Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said Monday. Hagel, a leading Senate moderate, called Specter “a respected and experienced member” of the judiciary panel.

Specter has been ubiquitous in print and broadcast media the past week, delivering a boilerplate message: He has no litmus test on abortion for judges, he never warned the president not to submit anti-abortion nominees, and Democratic filibusters against conservative judges are to be expected.

The current chairman of the panel, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, has reached the end of his six-year term limit and Specter is next in the seniority line to succeed him.

Hatch, a conservative, said last week in a television interview he was prepared to abide by the seniority rules.

“We set a rule, and however dumb I may think it may be or others may think it may be, others think it’s a perfectly good rule,” Hatch said.

Hatch also said he was not worried by a Specter chairmanship. “My experience with Arlen Specter has been a good experience,” he said.