As we reported last week, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) is adament about playing a key role in the confirmation process for President Obama’s nominee to succeed Justice David Souter.  Listening to him talk last week, one might have expected him to be tougher on Obama’s eventual pick, but here’s his statement regarding Obama’s selection of Sonia Sotomayor:

I applaud the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Her confirmation would add needed diversity in two ways: the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the high court,” Specter said. “While her record suggests excellent educational and professional qualifications, now it is up to the Senate to discharge its constitutional duty for a full and fair confirmation process.

Ever since party-switcher Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) was stripped of his seniority earlier this month, Specter has been unrelenting in his efforts to remain relevant in the Senate.  As we reported earlier today, Specter just held his first hearing as chair of the Senate Judiciary crime and drugs subcommittee (a position that was vacated by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).  But that’s not all.

David Ingram at the BLT reports that Specter has sent President Obama his list of four potential nominees to succeed Justice David Souter.  “I submitted four names — all women, and none who owns a black robe,” Specter said after his speech to the American Law Institute at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel.  He did not elaborate.  The women reported to be on Obama’s short-list include Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and former Attorney General of Michigan, now Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.).

Specter said he thinks he will be heavily involved in the confirmation process for whoever Obama picks to succeed Souter.  This seems a tad bit ironic since Specter’s loss of seniority means he will bethe  last Senator to question the nominee when he/she comes before the Senate.  But Specter warned that he shouldn’t be counted out, “I didn’t have a prominent role when I questioned Judge Bork, and I was noticed. I didn’t have a prominent role when I questioned Professor Hill, and I was noticed,” he said.

During his speech, Specter talked about the expansion of executive power and how he intended to question Obama’s SCOTUS pick about the role of presidential signing statements and the power of Congress to compel the Court to decide an unsettled legal question.  Specter also took the opportunity to acquit the Congress of any guilt regarding its inability to stand up to former President George W. Bush, saying “We really have to have the courts arbitrate these disputes.”  Way to pass the buck.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who stood up against the Bush administration on domestic eavesdropping, is being floated around the White House as a candidate to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter, Politico reported this afternoon.

Comey is “the sort of unconventional choice – someone who’s not a federal appeals-court judge – that key senators, and some administration officials, have been urging President Obama to consider,” Politico said.

Obama is still in the process of winnowing down the pool of more than a dozen potential candidates for the lifetime appointment. We previously reported that another one of Main Justice’s own, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, is also in the mix to replace Souter.