Arlen Specter Nominee Quotations

What I'm referring to are all of the forces which are at work out here commanding media attention and commanding public attention, ... There's been more controversy before this nominee has uttered a formal word than I have ever heard.

There is no firmly established rule as to how much a nominee must say to be confirmed, ... While I personally consider it inappropriate to ask a nominee how he would vote on a specific matter likely to come before the court, senators may ask whatever they choose and the nominee is similarly free to respond as he chooses.

It is my hope that the president will now send us a nominee for Justice O'Connor's spot in the mold of Judge Roberts,

I think that the criterion ought to be: Who's the best person available for the job? And many of us have called for a nominee who comes from a background other than one of being a jurist. And now we have a person who is like that. ... You've got to go to America to find lawyers, and Dallas is as good a place as any to find lawyers.

As the president ponders the nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, it is my hope that there will be a balance maintained on the court.

If there are backroom assurances and if there are backroom deals and if there is something which bears upon a precondition as to how a nominee is going to vote, I think that's a matter that ought to be known.

If there was a telephone call where someone gave assurances about how she's going to vote in a case, you bet that's something we'd look into, ... Absolutely. It is not tolerable to have any commitments about how a nominee would vote on a case. Not tolerable.

There's been more controversy before this nominee has uttered a formal word than I have ever heard,

Hearings for a Supreme Court nominee should not have a political tilt for either Republicans or Democrats, ... They should, in substantive fact and in perception, be for all Americans.