shameful hypopcrisy on display in the Senate Judiciary Committee
Clash Over Nominee Could Be Prelude
Thu Mar 7, 1:53 AM ET
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites) faces his first formal defeat at trying to put conservatives into federal appeals court seats in what could be a prelude to a battle over a Supreme Court vacancy.
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The showdown over U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering of Mississippi may be put off for a week, however, as Republicans try to save the nomination from going down in flames in the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites).
With committee Democrats prepared to vote down Pickering's nomination Thursday, Sen. Orrin Hatch (news), R-Utah, said he would probably request a one-week delay in the vote. Judiciary Committee members have the right to place a weeklong hold on any nomination.
A delay would give the GOP time to try to sway or pressure Democrats into sending the nomination to the Senate or give Pickering time to withdraw his name from consideration.
"I think the judge is not being treated fairly," Hatch said. "It does give another week for consideration by our colleagues, who hopefully will look at what an outside smear job this has been."
This came as Bush made a last-minute push to pressure Democrats into sending Pickering's nomination to the full Senate, where it is probable he would be confirmed.
All 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, a majority of the panel, have indicated they would vote against the nomination. Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., has said Pickering would not be voted on by the Senate without the committee's approval.
Bush accused Senate Democrats of playing politics. The White House and Democrats view Pickering's nomination as a harbinger of clashes to come if Bush is given Supreme Court seats to fill.
"I think the country is tired of people playing politics all the time in Washington, and I believe that they're holding this man's nomination up for political purposes," the president said in an Oval Office meeting with Pickering.
Pickering would serve on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) in New Orleans, which serves Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.
He has faced criticism from women's, civil rights and liberal groups, some of the same factions likely to line up against a Bush pick to the Supreme Court.
Senate Democrats have questioned Pickering about efforts to reduce the sentence of a man convicted of burning a cross on an interracial couple's lawn. They questioned him about his actions on abortion and voting rights as a state senator and federal judge.
"It is very critical that the judicial nominees, especially for the appeals and the Supreme Court positions, are people of moderate philosophical temperament and have an impeccable past," Daschle said.
Bush shrugged off the criticism, noting that the former Mississippi prosecutor easily won Senate confirmation in 1990 as a judge in a U.S. District Court. He called Pickering a man who "respects the rights of all citizens."
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) shrugged off questions about Pickering's views on race in the 1950s and 1960s. "If actions taken by people 40 years ago were the criteria, there'd be some senators who are voting on this nomination whose very history would come into play," Fleischer said.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., was a member of the Ku Klux Klan before coming to Congress in the 1950s; Sen. Strom Thurmond (news) of South Carolina waged the longest filibuster in Senate history to oppose a 1957 civil rights bill and ran for president as a segregationist.
The two men have since supported civil rights and hired black staff members. Thurmond is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Byrd is not.
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On the Net: Senate Judiciary Committee: judiciary.senate.gov
Justice Department (news - web sites) list of judicial nominees: usdoj.gov
White House: whitehouse.gov
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