As Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog writes: “Though the letter is directed to Judge Sotomayor, it takes a not-so-subtle shot at Chief Justice Roberts’ views of congressional power, first as expressed at his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and then as expressed at the oral argument in NAMUDNO” — or Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District v. Holder, a challenge to the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court is getting ready to rule on soon.

The letter, also discussed in Constitutional Law Prof Blog, essentially accuses Roberts of lying by saying he believes one thing at his confirmation hearing, and then doing another on the bench.

Specifically, Specter accuses Roberts of saying in his confirmation hearing that he will defer to the findings of Congress when legislation is challenged in court, and then during oral argument in the recent Voting Rights Act, suggesting that he doesn’t accept Congress’s findings when it comes to the need for reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.

Specter wrote in his letter to Sotomayor:

While too much cannot be read into comments by justices at oral argument, Chief Justice Roberts’s statements suggested a very different attitude on deference to Congressional fact finding than he expressed at his confirmation hearing.

How straight an answer Specter will get on his questions about deference to Congressional fact-finding may depend on whether (and how) the Supreme Court has ruled in the voting rights case by the time of Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing, notes Steven Schwinn, contributor to Constitutional Law Prof Blog and a professor at John Marshall Law School.

Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin July 13.

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Despite some tough questioning about past experience and legal positions by Republicans — including Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who today castigated Kagan for opposing military recruiting on college campuses; and Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa), who complained that he hasn’t been able to get enough information about Kagan’s views — she is widely expected to be confirmed, as even Specter acknowledged on the Senate floor today.

As TWI’s Kate Klonick has written, Kagan — a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, a former clerk to  Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and now Dean of the Harvard Law School — would be the first female solicitor general in U.S. history.

Kagan is also considered to be a potential future nominee to the Supreme Court.