Many of my pro-life friends supported Bush for one reason more than any other -- he would appoint judges who would interpret the constitution as intended by the framers and not use it as a blank writ to impose on America abortion and same-sex marriage.

Now this prudential judgment will be put to the test.

For the background to the story read Timothy P. Carneys article in the National Review Online. It begins

Rick Santorum and George W. Bush told us that the GOP needed Arlen Specter. We needed Arlen Specter to deliver Pennsylvania for Bush. We needed Arlen Specter to boost the party in the Keystone State. We needed Arlen Specter to keep the Senate majority. Santorum and Bush were wrong. They were wrong morally, and they were wrong politically. These men saved the man who saved Roe v. Wade, and now the costs to the pro-life cause, the conservative movement, and the Republican party -- for so little benefit -- could be deep and long-lasting.[The full article is here: http://www.nationalreview.com/carney/carney200411031005.asp]

Yesterday, at a press conference, Senator Specter explained (according to a transcript provided by his office):

ODOM: Is Mr. Bush, he just won the election, even with the popular vote as well. If he wants anti-abortion judges up there, you are caught in the middle of it what are you going to do? The party is going one way and you are saying this.

SPECTER: When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v Wade, I think that is unlikely. And I have said that bluntly during the course of the campaign and before. When the Inquirer endorsed me, they quoted my statement that Roe v Wade was inviolate. And that 1973 decision, which has been in effect now for 33 years, was buttressed by the 1992 decision, written by three Republican justices - O'Conner, Souter, and Kennedy - and nobody can doubt Anthony Kennedy's conservativism or pro-life position, but that's the fabric of the country. Nobody can be confirmed today who didn't agree with Brown v. Board of Education on integration, and I believe that while you traditionally do not ask a nominee how they're going to decide a specific case, there's a doctorate and a fancy label term, stari decisis, precedent which I think protects that issue. That is my view, now, before, and always. [For the full transcript, go to: http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp]

So, we could wait around and see what Specter will do or we can join the campaign launched by National Review Online editor, Kathryn Jean Lopez, who wrote:

The more I think about it, this election is not over -- there is unfinished business. As you know, Arlen Specter warned the president yesterday, in the press, that he will have a litmus test for judges if Specter is judiciary chair, a foregone conclusion as far as most are concerned. Fact is, folks, HE IS NOT JUDICIARY CHAIR, but there will be elections in the Senate in the coming days which could very well make him judiciary chairman. Conservatives, as we have seen, won this election. Many of you personally played no small role in that. Why should Republicans stifle their conservative base by putting Arlen Specter in as judiciary chair? There is no reason. If there was some deal cut that he would be judiciary chair, it seems to me he broke it yesterday.

If you agree -- if you agree that good men and women cannot be kept off the Supreme Court because they are against abortion (disqualifying, for starters, any faithful Catholic, many evangelicals, Muslims, automatically) -- call and e-mail Bill Frist (and your Republican senators, if applicable) today. I am pretty certain an overwhelming outcry from conservatives in the next few days is the only way Arlen Specter can be kept from becoming a huge obstacle.

Senator Bill Frist can be reached

By e-mail at http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorFrist.ContactForm
DC office number is 202-224-3344
Fax is 202-228-1264
Nashville office number is 615-352-9411
Majority Leader office number is 202-224-3135
If your a Tennessee resident, call the Nashville office