Arlen Specter: “I support Judge Pickering because I think Judge Pickering, in the year 2002, is an appropriate nominee for the circuit…”

“I support Judge Pickering because I think Judge Pickering, in the year 2002, is an appropriate nominee for the circuit court. If Charles Pickering were still a State Senator in the 1970s, I would vote against him because his civil rights record at that time was not good. But today he is a different man. This is a different time. The opposition raised against Judge Pickering, in large measure, is about what he was as a Mississippi State Senator in the 1970s. It is my hope that at a minimum we will send Judge Pickering's nomination to the floor of the Senate for a vote by the full Senate. The Constitution provides for confirmation by the Senate--not by the Senate Judiciary Committee. There are solid indicators that if Judge Pickering reached the floor, there would be 51 or more votes for his confirmation.”