POLITICS - Keep the Dream Alive

The day after Bush crashed MLK ceremonies in Atlanta, Georgia, he nominates Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. I only wish Dr. King was still here, because he could find a voice to protest this hypocricy.

From the NYTimes:

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.

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

But who is Charles Pickering? The National Organization of Women provides this short list (click the link to read the rest):

Pickering was renominated by President Bush on Jan. 7, 2003, just hours after Republicans took control of the Senate.

Long known as an opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Chaired the Human Rights and Responsibilities Subcommittee of the Republican Party Platform Committee that approved a plank in the party platform protesting the Supreme Court's decision in Roe and calling for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.

As a state senator, Pickering repeatedly voted against measures that would expand electoral opportunities for African Americans after passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Pickering used identical language in his opinions in the racial discrimination cases Seeley v. City of Hattiesburg and Johnson v. South Mississippi Home Health, describing each as having "all the hallmarks of a case ... filed simply because an adverse employment decision is made in regard to a protected minority."