Here’s a Republican with intimate knowledge of the judicial nomination and confirmation process commenting on Specter in an email. It really exposes as nonsense Specter’s claim that he’d be just one vote on the Judiciary Committee. (By the way, if the chairman were just one vote on the committee, then why does Specter want to be the chairman so badly?) Anyway, here’s what our expert says:

“Much of the Constitutional ‘advise and consent’ process goes on behind closed doors. There are the doors behind which senators discuss a nomination and count critical votes. There are the behind closed door meetings when senators are told that one of their colleagues is going to side with the opposition party against a nomination if a vote is forced. Often such meetings lead to the abandoning of the public effort, the death of a nomination. There are all sorts of maneuverings never seen by the public and for the sake of brevity here I will just say, many qualified and solid judicial nominations have been hurt by Senator Specter’s role behind closed doors.

“Furthermore, the ‘advise’ portion of the process … is directed at the Committee chairman more than any other committee member. This can take place in many ways but surely one manifestation is the White House approaching the chairman to ‘float’ a name of a potential nominee. Certainly the President makes his choice but the advance reception given by a committee chairman is of consequence. So, a question: Would Chairman Specter, behind close doors tell the White House that he will pledge unflinchingly to do everything possible to confirm a conservative nominee to the Supreme Court or to a Circuit Court of Appeals, or would a Chairman Specter try to ‘waive off’ the landing of a highly qualified conservative nominee?”