Following his shocking announcement that he intends to run as a Democrat next year, Senior Republican US Senator Arlen Specter published an essay in, of all places, The New York Review of Books–his first essay there since 1988.
Entitled “The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs,” the essay has a bit of the drama and score-settling necessary for a political memoir, perhaps hinting at a future project. In 2008, he published the memoir, “Never Give In: Battling Cancer in the Senate;” in 2000, he wrote “Passion for Truth: From Finding JFK’s Single Bullet to Questioning Anita Hill to Impeaching Clinton.”
Here’s an excerpt from the essay: “I had lost the battle, but was not prepared to surrender. On January 18, 2007, Attorney General Gonzales testified before the Judiciary Committee and argued that proposals to restore habeas corpus, such as a bill Senator Leahy and I had introduced, were “ill-advised and frankly defy common sense.” I was astounded at his claim that “there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution.”