Arlen Specter Quotes on Government (18 Quotes)

What assurances can you give the Senate and the American people that you will be independent, if confirmed, and not give President Bush any special deference on any matter involving him which might come before the court

It is my hope that partisanship will stop at the columns of the Senate.

My No. 1 priority is to get Rick Santorum re-elected in 2006. I would vote for him to any Senate leadership job, I would help him become president.

I do hope that when we in the Congress, both in this body -- when responsibilities come to the Senate -- and the other body, in the House of Representatives, there will be an approach which is bipartisan and nonpartisan in nature,

At any rate, Congress hasn't acted, and that's really what the focus of our hearing is today as to what ought to be done.

Members of Congress are irate about the Court's denigrating and, really, disrespectful statements about Congress' competence, ... method of reasoning.

overturned almost 60 years of Congress' power under the Commerce Clause.

An imperial president has become more imperial, simply because the Congress has not taken steps to secure its power of the purse.

If the Senate were to reject the treaty, then it would be highly publicized worldwide. It would be an open excuse for countries like India and Pakistan to continue nuclear testing which I think is very undesirable, destabilizing that area of the world,

Specter's most surprising move in preparing for the hearing came on Aug. 8, when he used a letter to Roberts to assail the current Supreme Court on matters in which the nominee had no hand. Members of Congress are irate about the Court's denigrating and, really, disrespectful statement's about Congress's competence, ... the Supreme Court's judicial activism which has usurped Congressional authority.

I hope we do not come back to the terrible schism we had, ... That just about tore the Senate apart, and it has the potential to do it again, except that the stakes would be bigger. You are talking about the Supreme Court.

What is happening is escalating, and then there is escalating beyond that. I go back to 1987, when the Democrats won control of the Senate, President Reagan's last two years, and it was tough, but not nearly as tough as it became later.

The president's fiscal year '07 budget proposal is going to require substantial modifications by the Congress.

The fundamental purpose of government is to protect its citizens.

I believe that stem-cell research has enormous hope for the future. But I would point out that I'm joined by Senator Orrin Hatch, a noted conservative. I'm joined by many conservative colleagues on the Republican side of the Senate I'm joined by Mrs. Nancy Reagan and by the vast majority of the American people.

If we give up the power of the purse, which is what is at issue here, then it really reduces the Congress to the state of being a eunuch,

On Aug. 8 Specter sent Roberts a similar letter regarding Supreme Court cases that overturned laws dealing with interstate commerce. Members of Congress are irate about the Court's denigrating and, really, disrespectful statements about Congress's competence, ... any real justification for the Court's denigrating Congress's 'method of reasoning' in our constitutional structure of separation of power.

I must say I am not pleased to have to arrange the Senate schedule around the availability of Senators who are running for President.