Free Republic

Word among some attendees at this past weekend's American Constitution Society for Law and Policy meeting in Washington, D.C. was that Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had done the leftist organization and its many lawyers and wanna-be legal scholars a huge favor. "First, Specter refused to give [Supreme Court nominee Judge John] Roberts a full endorsement," says a member of the ACS, which was started several years ago as a liberal competitor to the more well-known and established Federalist Society. "Then he presses the Administration for documents on Roberts for us. He's been a more than...

Sen. Arlen Specter's latest hire is former NAACP assistant general counsel Hannibal G. Williams II Kemerer. The American Prowler has the gory details: Kemerer was a protégé of Elaine Jones, who three years ago, as head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, lobbied Sen. Ted Kennedy to delay confirmation of many of President Bush's judicial nominees to a federal circuit court where her group had pending litigation. When Jones and Kennedy's deal was revealed, she was forced to resign. Specter hired Kemerer to deal specifically with the nominations and vetting of federal judicial nominees, a position many conservatives were led...

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter went back on his word to Republican caucus members and conservative groups alike when he recently hired Hannibal G. Williams II Kemerer, who until recently was the NAACP's assistant general counsel. Specter hired Kemerer against the wishes of his senior Judiciary Committee staff. "We warned him this was going to cause trouble, but Specter said it was his committee, we are his staff, and he's going to do what he believes is right," says a Judiciary Committee staffer. Kemerer was a protégé of Elaine Jones, who three years ago, as head of the NAACP...