Arlen Specter: “we are moving forward today on the votes for confirmation of three Federal judges. Among the many very heavy…”

“we are moving forward today on the votes for confirmation of three Federal judges. Among the many very heavy responsibilities of the Senate, the confirmation process ranks very high. Under our system of government, we give to the judicial branch the responsibility of interpreting the Constitution and establishing the rule of law. That has broad implications. It means the courts render decisions where one citizen has a claim against another, which goes to court. It means a claim when the government and a citizen have a controversy which is to be settled by an impartial judicial arbitrator. It also involves some of the historic constitutional confrontations, one of which we will have later this week on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Where does the Article II power of the President end as Commander in Chief, and where does the Article I power of the Congress of the United States establish itself under Article I? It is a very, very high calling. When the framers adopted the Constitution, Article I was given to the Congress. Article II to the executive branch and Article III to the judicial branch. Later, Chief Justice Marshall, in effect, rewrote the order of priority. I think if the Constitution were to be rewritten today, the judicial branch would be No. 1, because the judicial branch has taken over the responsibility, for a variety of reasons, for deciding all of the cutting edge questions.…”