Bush Bypasses Democrats to Install Judge
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By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Sidestepping a two-year congressional battle, President Bush (news - web sites) is promoting federal Judge Charles Pickering of Mississippi to an appeals court, at least temporarily, in a slap at filibustering Senate Democrats who question the nominee's civil rights record.
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Related Links
• Pickering Biography (DOJ)
• White House: Judicial Nominations (whitehouse.gov)
Bush elevated Pickering on Friday from the U.S. District Court to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) in New Orleans under authority granted him when Congress is in recess. Such appointments, which need no Senate confirmation, are valid until the next Congress takes office, in this case in January 2005.
The move probably will re-ignite and intensify in this election year the battle between Republicans and Democrats over the makeup of the federal judiciary.
Bush took a shot at Senate Democrats in his announcement Friday, saying Pickering "will perform a valuable service on a court that needs more judges to do its work with the efficiency the American people deserve and expect."
"Again, I call on the Senate to stop playing politics with the American judicial system and to give my nominees the up-or-down votes they deserve," he said.
Democrats used the appointment to try and paint Bush as insensitive to minorities, a theme they are expected to revisit during the election campaign.
"The president's recess appointment of this anti-civil rights judge the day after laying a wreath on the grave of Martin Luther King is an insult to Dr. King, an insult to every African-American, and an insult to all Americans who share Dr. King's great goals," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "It serves only to emphasize again this administration's shameful opposition to civil rights."
Pickering, meanwhile, was informally sworn in in Jackson, Miss., Friday night. "I'm grateful to the president for his continued confidence and support," the 66-year-old trial judge said. "I look forward to serving on the 5th Circuit."
The circuit handles appeals from Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, and the judges on that circuit have been trailblazers on desegregation and voting rights in the past.
Democrats have accused Pickering of supporting segregation as a young man and promoting anti-abortion and anti-voting rights views as a state lawmaker. Republicans in turn have accused Democrats of being religiously prejudiced against Bush's anti-abortion nominees. They also have accused the Democrats of discriminating against Southerners.
Pickering has strongly denied allegations of racial insensitivity.
Republicans acknowledged on Friday that Bush's action would make it harder to get Pickering and perhaps other judicial nominees through the Senate, which has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one independent. "It's hard to know how it could be worse than it is now," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites).
Democrats have used the threat of a filibuster to block six U.S. Appeals Court nominees this congressional term: Pickering, Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, Texas judge Priscilla Owen, Hispanic lawyer Miguel Estrada and California judges Carolyn Kuhl and Janice Rogers Brown.
Frustrated at the delays, Estrada withdrew his nomination in September.
Pickering was a better choice than the other blocked nominees for a recess appointment because of his age, said Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz. "Judge Pickering has a long and distinguished career," Kyl said. Serving on the "5th Circuit would be a wonderful capstone for his career if he is not made permanent."
Pickering was the first of Bush's nominees to be blocked by the Democrats, while they controlled the Senate in 2001. His chances of winning approval waned when Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., stepped down as Senate majority leader after praising the 1948 presidential campaign of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, then a segregationist.
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