[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 22 (Thursday, March 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              SENATOR SPECTER ARGUES BEFORE SUPREME COURT

  Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I rise to commend my colleague, the 
senior Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Specter], for personally arguing 
yesterday the case of Dalton versus Specter before the Supreme Court of 
the United States.
  This case was originally filed by Senators Specter, Wofford, Bradley, 
and Lautenberg, as well as other Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware 
elected officials and various unions, to protest the alleged violations 
of law in the procedures followed by the Base Realignment and Closure 
Commission [BRAC]. The BRAC recommended closing the Philadelphia Naval 
Shipyard.
  Senator Specter argued that the Navy deliberately concealed from the 
BRAC certain information which argued for keeping the Philadelphia 
Naval Shipyard open. The argument before the Supreme Court yesterday 
focused on the question of whether the courts had any power to require 
that the BRAC follow the procedures outlined in the Base Realignment 
and Closure Act. Senator Specter argued that the Department of Defense 
had specifically violated the act's requirements that all information 
relied on in the base closing process be made available to the 
Commission, the GAO, and the Congress.
  Senator Specter pointed out that a long line of Supreme Court 
decisions, from Chief Justice Marshall's opinion in Marbury versus 
Madison in 1803 to the Youngstown case involving President Truman's 
seizure of the steel mills in 1952, require the courts to determine 
whether the President and executive branch agencies have complied with 
the law.
  As a sitting Senator, Senator Specter was not unique in appearing 
before the Supreme Court to argue a case. Daniel Webster and others did 
so frequently in the 1800's, and more recently Senators Ervin and Saxbe 
did so in 1972 in a case involving senatorial immunity.
  This is not the first time Senator Specter argued before the Supreme 
Court of the United States. As a Yale law school graduate and district 
attorney from Philadelphia, he was last at the court in 1970.
  Once again, Senator Specter has proven himself to be a skilled 
litigator as well as a tough fighter for the people of Pennsylvania.

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