Former Sen. Arlen Specter died today, Oct. 14, at his Philadelphia home.
He was 82.
Sen. Specter represented Pennsylvania from 1981 until 2011. He served as a Republican until 2009 switching parties after former congressman Pat Toomey announced a primary challenge. Specter would go on to lose to former congressman Joe Sestak in the Democrat primary who would go on to lose to Toomey in the 2010 general election.
As senator, he was best known for his grillings of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork and of Anita Hill, who testified against Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination; for his citing of “Scottish law” as a reason not to remove Bill Clinton from the presidency; and for his last minute support of the Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) which got the bill through the Senate.
Before his senate career, Sen. Specter was a private attorney whose clients included the murderer Ira Einhorn, who he managed to get free on bail and who then fled the country spending 20 years in luxury in France before being brought back to justice in Pennsylvania.
Before that, he was Philadelphia’s district attorney winning on the Republican ticket in 1965 while a registered Democrat. He subsequently switched parties. He held the post until 1974.
Before that he was an assistant Philadelphia district attorney and worked on the Warren Commission where he conceived of the “single-bullet theory” as an explanation to account for the number of wounds on President Kennedy and Texas Gov. James Connally.
All in all, he certainly made his mark on America.
Saw that on Twitter; also saw our illustrious Senator Casey tweeted his regrets. Kind of him!
With regard to my opinion of the Senator upon his passing, I’m going to keep my teeth firmly on my tongue as best I can.