AP: Bush Bypasses Congress to Appoint Federal Judge
 

Fucking God. This man is too fucking power crazed.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/...0116_1580.html

WASHINGTON Jan. 16 — President Bush bypassed Congress and installed Charles Pickering on the federal appeals court Friday in an election-year slap at Democrats who had blocked the nomination for more than two years.
Bush installed 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.





Pickering, a federal trial judge whom 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.

"I'm grateful to the president for his continued confidence and support," Pickering told The Associated Press from his home in Mississippi. "I look forward to serving on the 5th Circuit."

Democrats have accused Pickering of supporting segregation as a young man, and promoting anti-abortion and anti-voting rights views as a state lawmaker.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called the recess appointment "a finger in the eye to all those seeking fairness and bipartisanship in the judicial nominations process."

Another Democrat, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said, "It is quite unfortunate that the president has chosen to seat Judge Pickering only days before the nation celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

Thompson said that while on the federal bench in Mississippi, Pickering had sought to "limit minority voting strength and to stifle the rights of women counter to everything Dr. King and the civil rights movement were all about."

The 5th Circuit handles appeals from Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, and the federal judges on that circuit have been trailblazers on desegregation and voting rights in the past.

Pushing for Pickering's confirmation last year, Bush said, "He is a good, fair-minded man, and the treatment he has received by a handful of senators is a disgrace. He has wide bipartisan support from those who know him best."

Democrats have used the threat of a filibuster to block four U.S. Appeals Court nominees this congressional term: Pickering, Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, Texas judge Priscilla Owen and Hispanic lawyer Miguel Estrada. Others, including California judges Carolyn Kuhl and Janice Rogers Brown, are expected to be blocked by Democrats as well.

Frustrated at the delays, Estrada withdrew his nomination in September.

Pickering's nomination had sparked one of the most contentious battles between Republicans and Democrats over the federal courts.

He was the first of Bush's nominees to be blocked by Democrats, while they controlled the Senate in 2001, and his chances of getting through the Senate waned with the resignation of then-Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., over racially insensitive statements about the late Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

Pickering, however, refused to step aside and continued to try to build up support in the South. He strongly denied allegations of racial insensitivity.

"For 25 years I have strongly advocated that African-Americans and whites should sit down and talk in a positive and constructive manner to try to promote better understanding. This I've done," Pickering said after a meeting with the Mississippi Black Caucus last year.

Republicans concentrated on other nominees like Estrada and Owen, but always promised to get back to Pickering.

During Pickering's nomination hearing, Republicans accused Democrats of being religiously biased against Bush's anti-abortion nominees, a theme they continued with Estrada and other Bush anti-abortion nominees.


Associated Press writer Jesse Holland contributed to this report.


photo credit and caption: President Bush addresses the congregation at Union Bethel Church Thursday 15, 2004, in New Orleans. Bush said Thursday the ``miracle of salvation'' is the key to solving some of societies most intractable problems as he sought increased support among black voters with a renewed push for his plan to let religious charities in on more federal spending. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)





Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

That fucker.

Well, both of them.

Doesn't matter. Congress will get rid of him as soon as they go back.

Uh, you don't have any problem with the fact that the Democrats in congress have refused to even have a vote for 2 years?!?! What is Bush supposed to do? They had their chance.

The man can't accept the fact that people do not think Pickering is a good judge? Could'nt he find someone else to appoint?

They've approved of loads of appointees there's what- 5 they wouldn't agree to? That's a problem?

I feel as if Bush takes it upon himself only to decide what is best for this country. That is not a democracy, that is a dictatorship. The man has a serious power trip problem.

Do you know he actually said that? That it would be easier if were dictator? I'll try to find it...

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.html
GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I told all four that there were going to be some times where we don't agree with each other. But that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.

If they didn't think he was a good judge, they could vote that way.

They essentially were blocking a vote on the issue for two years, and I don't care whether you like Bush or not, if someone is using dirty politics (but within the law) to table a vote on an issue, how can you be mad whan someone else overrides them by using dirty politics (within the law) to get past that?

Really, if this happened to Clinton, you would all be screaming at the GOP for tabling even a vote on the issue. The point is if you don't want him to be a judge, don't vote for him. I think one of the many reasons there was no vote is because they didn't want Bush to be able to claim that he appointed a black federal judge. Now this helps Bush even more because he can say not even did I appoint a black federal judge, but the Democrats tried to stop the process.

The Democrats have approved more Bush appointees than Republicans approved Clilnton appointees ... in his eight years of office.