Specter Challenges GOP on Detainee Issue

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter, R- Pa., listens to witness testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Sept. 25, 2006 during a hearing titled "Examining Proposals to Limit Guantanamo Detainees' Access to Habeas Corpus Review" . Specter said Sunday he has a problem with the Republican agreement on rules for the interrogation and trial of suspects in the war on terror. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP)

WASHINGTON -- True to his reputation as a Republican maverick, Sen. Arlen Specter on Thursday was out front defending the right of suspected terrorists to file court challenges to their detention.

Only three Republicans sided with Specter, R-Pa., as the Senate voted 51-48 against an amendment by him that would have allowed terror suspects to file habeas corpus petitions in court. Specter contends the ability to file such pleas is considered a fundamental legal right and is necessary to uncover abuse.

Others in the GOP caucus said providing terror suspects the right to unlimited appeals weighs down the federal court system.

"This is a constitutional requirement and it is fundamental that Congress not legislate contradiction to a constitutional interpretation of the Supreme Court," said Specter, a former Philadelphia prosecutor.

After rejecting Specter's amendment, the Senate endorsed, 65-34, President Bush's plans to prosecute and interrogate terror suspects. Specter voted in favor of the bill, which would create military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects and prohibit blatant abuses of detainees. It would grant the president flexibility to decide what interrogation techniques are legally permissible.

It's not the first time the five-term Specter, 76, has challenged the establishment.

Specter, a cancer survivor, has tirelessly fought for the expansion of funding for embryonic stem cell research, despite Bush's opposition to it. He was also one of the first Republicans to question publicly aspects of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program.

Specter supports abortion rights, and he nearly lost his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2004 when he angered conservatives by saying anti-abortion judges would have a difficult time winning Senate confirmation to the Supreme Court, given Democratic opposition.

He was allowed to keep the position only after promising to get Bush's nominees quick hearings and early votes. He went on to chair the confirmation hearings for Chief Justice John Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

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Sen. Arlen Specter: http://specter.senate.gov/