By letter yesterday, Senator Specter requested that Judiciary Committee chairman Pat Leahy not schedule a hearing on Seventh Circuit nominee David F. Hamilton before the Senate’s upcoming recess, which will begin at the end of next week. In a handwritten note at the end of his letter, Specter advises Leahy, “If you insist on this schedule [i.e., a pre-recess hearing] for Hamilton, you will [be] starting on the first Pres Obama nomination in a very contentious manner which will provoke opposition [and] prove counterproductive.” (Emphasis in original.)
According to this CQ Legal Beat post, Leahy nonetheless intends to proceed with an April 1 hearing on Hamilton. In fact, the hearing notice has just been circulated.