GOP’s Specter lobbies for judge

The Clarion-Ledger, 7/27/7

Moderate GOP Sen. Arlen Specter, who has joined dozens of conservative groups in a fight to win confirmation of a Mississippi judge, said Thursday he’s willing to slow work in the Senate if Leslie Southwick is not given a confirmation vote.

“If there’s a filibuster on Leslie Southwick, it will be open warfare,” said Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It takes 60 votes to end a filibuster – a Senate procedure of extended debate to prevent a vote. But it’s unlikely Southwick’s supporters could muster that kind of support because of Democratic opposition to his nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.