President Bush installed Charles Pickering on a federal appeals court Friday, bypassing Democrats who had stalled his nomination for more than two years. Bush appointed Pickering by a recess appointment which avoids the confirmation process. Such appointments are valid until the next Congress takes office, in this case in January 2005.
| When he expects to have more Publicans in office to approve him permanently... |
Pickering, a federal trial judge who Bush nominated for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, has been waiting for a confirmation vote in the Senate. Democrats have accused him of supporting segregation as a young man, and pushing anti-abortion and anti-voting rights views as a state lawmaker. They also have said they wouldn’t be able to trust Pickering to keep his conservative opinions out of his work on the federal appeals court.
This is the kind of move to counter the filibustering of the Dems and to turn around a Judiciary dominated by Libs like our own 9th circuit court of Fools |