Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Chairman

The centrist Republican and Judiciary Committee Chairman has come under fire from religious groups for his support of stem-cell research and a woman's right to abortion. Specter learned last February that he had Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes. After undergoing a dozen chemotherapy treatments, the senator was recently declared "cancer-free" by his doctors.

Opening statement in Alito confirmation hearings
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