Senator Arlen Specter, Ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has just announced that he will vote NAY on the nomination of Elena Kagan to be solicitor general of the United States.

The vote has not yet occured (it will sometime in next six hours as I understand), but given Senator Specter’s intellect, legal analytical ability, and his reputation for bipartisanship and fairness, this is very significant and it represents strong leadership that other senators would do well to examine and follow.