Legal Beat

Arlen Specter regularly groused about sparse attendance at Senate Judiciary Committee meetings when he was the chairman.

But he was in no hurry to show up today, now that he's been relegated to the second-most-junior slot among Democrats. (He outranks only Minnesota's newly minted senator, Al Franken.)

Specter finally appeared when the committee resumed for a post-lunch session at 2 p.m. Specter is one of four junior Democrats who will speak before Sotomayor delivers her opening statement.

Because the Democrats enjoy a 12-7 majority, those Democrats will speak without having to alternate with any Republicans.