With Sen. Arlen Specter's defection to the Democrats and Justice Souter's announced retirement and thus the possibility of a looming SCOTUS confirmation battle, the spot of ranking minority member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee becomes very important.
Before Specter's defection, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) was not only preceded in the ranking by Specter (until this week ranking minority member) but also by Sen. Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Grassley (R-IA)and Sen. Kyl (R-AZ).
According to The Hill and AP, Jeff Sessions and Chuck Grassley have reached a deal that will allow the Alabama Republican to take over, albeit temporarily for the remainder of this Congress. Jeff Sessions will serve as ranking member until the 112th Congress starts, when he will take over the ranking member post on the Senate Budget Committee which upon the retirement of Sen. Gregg will become available. Grassley, currently the top Republican on the Finance Committee, will then become ranking member on the Judiciary Committee.
The Republicans who remain on the Judiciary Committee after Sen. Specter's defection will meet to vote on Sen. Sessions's ascension some time this week. After this, the decision goes to the full Republican Conference. This organ merely usually ratifies decisions the committee makes.
Sessions' ascent will please conservative organizations as they were wary of putting the more moderate Grassley atop the Judiciary Committee because he is seen as not "aggressive" enough.
The Hill
AP
It must be pointed out that Sessions will now lead the exact senate committee which twenty three years ago rejected his nomination by Ronald Reagan for a US District judgeship on the aacount of "racial insensitivity". The nomination was killed by the GOP lead Senate Judiciary Committee, which refused by a 9-9 vote to let the nomination come to the Senate floor for a vote. Very ironically, it was Sen. Specter who provided the tieing vote and thus scuttled Sessions nomination.
What landed Sessions in hot water and scutlled his nominations was the fact that during his career as a lawyer and prosecutorn he made a variety of comments that opponents pointed to, including remarks that he thought that the Ku Klux Klan was not so bad until he found out that some of them smoked marijuana. Sessions also had once labeled the NAACP and the ACLU "un-American," "Communist-inspired," and had said that they "forced civil rights down the throats of people." At his confirmation hearings, Sessions said that the groups could be un-American when "they involve themselves in un-American positions" in foreign policy.
Sen. Sessions was ranked by National Journal as the fifth-most conservative US Senator in their 2007 conservative/liberal rankings. He backs conservative Republican stances on foreign affairs, taxes, and social policy. He opposes abortion and illegal immigration. Ironically, Sessions was a supporter of the "nuclear option". I guess he now may think differently about that particular tactic.
This is thus the man who in all likelyhood will lead the charge against President Obama's nominee, whoever she or he may be. It only confirms the view even more that the GOP is a racist regional party from the South.