Bush Installs Pickering on Appeals Court The Associated Press Friday, January 16, 2004 WASHINGTON - President Bush installed Charles Pickering on a federal appeals court Friday, bypassing Democrats who had stalled his nomination for more than two years, sources said. 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. 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.
Gee, tough break Madison. Don't worry though, I'm sure in the future the Federal bench will be stacked once more with activist, pro-abortionists. Perhaps Pickering's experience as a legislator will give him the much needed perspective that lawmaking should be the product of elected officials and less in the domain of the appointed Federal judiciary.
yes, being installed through a circumvention of the legislative process will surely give him perspective on the value of the legislature