Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) will replace Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) as the new ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, The Hill reports this morning.
The Hill says:
Sessions and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reached the deal that will allow the Alabama Republican to take over for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), whose departure from the GOP last week left the committee without a ranking member.
Under terms of the deal, Sessions will serve as ranking member until the 112th Congress, when he will take over the ranking member post on the Senate Budget Committee. Current Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) is retiring at the end of the 111th Congress.
Grassley, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, will then become ranking member on the Judiciary Committee.
Last week, Grassley had enlisted the help of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in positioning himself for the top slot on the committee. Under the deal floated then, Hatch would have taken over Judiciary for the remainder of the 111th, with Grassley taking the helm once his tenure on Finance expired.
The Hill goes on to say that Judiciary Republicans will vote on Sessions early this week, and then he will move on to the full Republican Conference for a vote.
UPDATE: The BLT notes the irony of Sessions leading the Republican side of a committee that in 1986 rejected his nomination for a federal judgeship because of his past controversial statements on race. Also, the deal with Sessions is apparently only through 2010, with Grassley taking over after then.
