Interesting political times.. Judiciary committee indepence..

[SirFozzie]

Well, I'll be.. looks like Spector is following his promise to be more independent of the Bush administration. Not saying that's good or bad, but it certainly is INTERESTING.

Especially a committee chairman who has a major problem with the PATRIOT act, which is a pretty important thing to the Bush administration.


WASHINGTON -- Raising the gavel with a grin, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter opened his first hearing Thursday by allowing more criticism of the Bush administration than his predecessor and by questioning some of the Patriot Act's police powers.

With his changes, questions and comments, Specter proclaimed his independence and said he expected the same from Alberto Gonzales, President Bush's nominee to be attorney general.

"While Judge Gonzales is the appointee of the president ... he's representing the people of the United States, a key distinction which I'm pleased to say in advance that Judge Gonzales has noted in the statement which he has submitted," Specter said.

The Pennsylvania Republican traveled a bruising path to the chairman's seat. He almost lost his claim to it last fall when he said just after Bush won re-election that anti-abortion judges might not win Senate confirmation. Administration officials were displeased, and conservatives flooded Republican Senate offices in protest.

A major damage-control effort by Specter helped win over Republican colleagues, who chose him to succeed Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The Senate on Thursday officially signed off on the change.

Specter wore a bandage on his nose from the removal of pre-cancerous tissue but was in good humor, accepting congratulations from numerous senators during the hearing.

He permitted multiple rounds of questions -- and criticism for the White House -- from senators of both parties, while Hatch had usually allowed only one round at such hearings.

Specter also agreed to let two law school professors and a human rights advocate testify against Gonzales.

He questioned extending some of the police powers in the Patriot Act passed by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks, particularly language requiring judges to issue warrants without making police or prosecutors justify them.

"Why can't we have that traditional probable cause requirement on the obtaining of those records?" asked Specter. The law comes up for renewal by Congress this year.