Specter sees O’Connor as example

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Senate committee that will oversee hearings on President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee said Sunday that he would like to see a moderate in the tradition of retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and perhaps someone with experience in politics.

Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter said he didn’t want to recommend a specific candidate because of his role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But he said he would like to see a nominee who has experience outside the judiciary, which would rule out many of the candidates that Bush is said to be considering.

The candidates mentioned most often are federal appeals court judges: Samuel Alito, Emilio Garza, J. Michael Luttig, John Roberts Jr., Michael McConnell and J. Harvie Wilkinson III.

Specter said on “Fox News Sunday” that he would like Bush to pick “somebody who’s had more experience, somebody who’s been out in the world and has a more varied background.” He said someone who has been in politics might be a good choice.

“I have expressed the view that it would be useful, in my judgment, to have somebody on the court who does not come from the graduates of the courts of appeals,” Specter said. “When you look back at the court which handed down Brown v. Board of Education unanimously, there was an ex-governor, there were three ex-senators, two attorneys general, a solicitor general, a professor and somebody from the SEC.”

Specter encouraged Bush not to bow to pressure from conservative groups and instead try to preserve the existing ideological balance on the court – meaning that his nominee would be a moderate like O’Connor.